From our travel correspondent:
The Egger factory at St Johann in Tirol, Austria, is remarkably similar to the Hexham plant - except for a shorter WESP chimney, a direct railway connection, and far less raw material stockpiled. It, too, has been recently expanded, with less effort at screening. Maybe some government controls may be tighter in England. In St Johann a scheme is due to start in September under which Egger will supply waste heat to some houses and public services which are being converted to take advantage. Maybe Hexham will be offered a similar deal? An organization called Umweltschutzverein Burgerinitiative Eggerwerk – inexpertly translated as the “Citizens Association for Environmental Protection relating to the Egger Factory” – has been active in reducing problems of noise, dust and smell.
St Johann is a busy little riverside market and tourist town just down the road from Kitzbuhl, with a prettily decorated and part-pedestrianised town centre. The similarities with Hexham even included bewildering road diversions due to pipe re-laying throughout the town. One difference from Hexham is that the St Johann Egger factory is much further from the town, over a slight rise in the valley. Unfortunately, none of the picture postcards we saw of St Johann featured the Egger factory. So we took our own photos.
Tourism opportunities
Should you wish to join the new vogue for Eggrtourism, the St Johann Camping Site, Camping Michelnhof, is recommended. It is an excellent site and the views in all directions except one are splendid! Alternatively there are 3 more Egger plants in Austria, 6 in Germany, 2 in France and 1 in Rumania just waiting for visitors!"
