Open Cast in Leicestershire

OK, so its not Nottinghamshire but UK Coal have just submitted a planning application for an open cast coal mine in the middle of the National Forest! These people obviously have no compuction in destroying anything they can to get at coal. To quote the national forest website: “a new forest in the heart of England. It covers a large part of north west Leicestershire as well as areas within Staffordshire and Derbyshire. Newly planted trees blend with existing woodland to create stunning landscapes and wildlife habitats.” They have planted 7 million trees already but what is the point if vandals like UK Coal can come along and just rip them out of the ground? OK, so they say they will reinstate but that mine will be there scaring the landscape for 4.5 years – a massive hole in the ground 1.5 miles long and half a mile wide, extracting 1.25 million tonnes of coal and 250,000 tonnes of clay. The residents of nearby villages of Measham and Swepstone will have their lives ruined 12 hours a day for 5 days a week and a further 6 hours on Saturday to produce more climate destroying coal. NANC supports the good people of Leicestershire in their fight against this blot on the landscape and destroyer of the climate. And remember folks, open cast mining could be coming near you. Leicestershire today Nottinghamshire tomorrow?

Notts Evening Post, supports open cast?

Last Wednesday the Nottingham Evening Post ran an article about the future of coal. It seems however that this article is nothing more than the uninformed opinion of one man. With no basis in fact, this article seems to be nothing more than a poor attempt to justify new coal in Nottinghamshire.

So as Nottinghamshire enjoys it’s Greenweeks series of festivals and activities to raise awareness all across the county – awareness about climate change and environmental issues – the Nottinghamshire Evening Post publishes an article describing how coal, and fossil fuels will always play a part in our energy production. The entire contents of the “article” is the opinion of one John Harvey. Now I do not know John Harvey so I can only judge him by the comments he made in this article, but the conclusion I draw right away is that as an ex-miner, he has a faith in mining and coal. It is a faith however, that renders him completely ignorant to reality.

John believes that coal must play a part long into the future of energy production, and that open cast mining will provide jobs in the coal industry for ex-miners. He also believes that open cast mining won’t be that bad for any local residents, and that fossil fuels “will never be extinct”.

It seems that John would have us forget the obvious fact that fossil fuels are a finite resource, and that they will all inevitably run out if we keep using them. To miss such a fundamental truth instantly discredits the article. He also fails to see any problems with open cast mining, and it seems he opts only to associate the fact that it involves “coal” with his memories of the miners struggle.

The problem is, that this is an attitude that is far too common in Nottinghamshire. Outside of Nottingham, in the surrounding towns and villages people will go to extraordinary lengths to defend any subject involving coal. Perhaps it was conditioned into people associated with the industry during their years of struggle. And for that I can’t blame them. But the general refusal to debate the subject is misguided at best.

The fact is, as anyone reading this site will know, that coal is bad. We know all about the parts per million of CO2. We know about 2 degree warming, polar ice caps, and we can quote facts and figures form leading scientists all day long. But we can’t communicate with people who simply refuse to listen, due to an instinctive defence of an industry that failed them.

I have wondered for some time now why this attitude exists. As we all know mining was a very dangerous business. People suffered some appalling illnesses through mining, and it’s history is stained with child labour and death. The claims for white finger and other mining related illnesses have not stopped a quarter of a century latter. Yet ex-miners still seem to yearn for the return of an industry that did little more than exploit them.

This yearning could not be more misplaced in this instance. I fully understand the desire for work in these times of difficulty. But as we all know, open cast mining offers little in the way of jobs, for ex-miners or otherwise. Open cast mining is about one thing, and that is maximising profits. Organisations do this by automating as much of their operation as possible. Open cast mining does not involve miners in any way, only huge machines that coldly and efficiently rape the land of all they can take. What few jobs are available could be filled by anyone, from anywhere, and will hardly be offered to ex-miners or local people by preference.

John is also of the false impression that open casting is not that bad for a local community! And as the first commenter to the article pointed out, his ideas about “something like a dust suppressor” simply do not wash. For the people who live next to these open cast sites, John’s comments hold little basis in reality.

Notts Against New Coal has no easy task ahead. With a poor understanding of the current issues surrounding coal so prolific throughout Nottinghamshire, getting people to understand that open cast mining has little to do with the industry that built their communities is difficult. Particularly when newspapers are so willing to publish articles that have no research behind them, and are based entirely on the rantings of one person.

Scotland and Wales have it. We want it too

In my last blog I mentioned that a lady had asked how close an open cast mine can be to her house. Well, I have found out and in England its as close as it likes. So while the spoil heap at Langton may technically not be an open cast site it is literally at the end of the gardens of the folks who live on Kirkby Road.
Meanwhile in Scotland and (since January this year) in Wales it is 500m. That is no comfort to the good folks who live next to the Fos-y-Fran open cast coal mine in Wales because if that regulation had been in place 3 years ago the mine would never have got the go-ahead. But it’s there now and is putting the freeze on UK Coals operations in Wales.
There is no such distance in England. So we need to do something about that. It’s easy. Write to your MP and ask him/her to tell Hazel Blears to act NOW. She can do this easily as Minister for Communities and Local Government. All she needs to do is to tell all the Local Authorities in England to put it in their Minerals Development Plan. God, I’m beginning to sound like a planner. I’d better go and lie down in a darkened room till this passes over BUT it helps to know the rules THEY operate by so we can use the same rules and WIN.

Its getting fishier and fishier

NANC have learned that the Highways Agency have apparently sold land to ‘a mining company’.  This land is from where the M1 was widened in Nottinghamshire and is the site of a former depot.  Of course we have to check this and have asked for confirmation of this from the Highways Agency.  We have also been told that a woman recently rang up and asked the planning department what the closest distance to a house that an open cast mine could be.  We are not sure if there is one but we will find out and post it here.

ATH have put in an appeal…and more

Our good friend in Notts CC planning office has tipped us the wink that ATH have decided to appeal.  So we immediately got on to Derbyshire CC planning and they said they had not received the papers yet but that an appeal was going to go ahead.  They gave us the internet link to the Planning Inspectorate  where you can comment on line.  NANC are posting this link here

http://www.pcs.planningportal.gov.uk/pcsportal/makerep.asp?caseaddress=COO.2036.300.8.1437284&appealtype=COO.2036.300.2.2083

So please all those good folks that read this blog do fill in the form and demand that the Inspector reject the application.

Now it’s totally unrelated but there is a precedent where one of Her Majesty’s Planning Inspectors put climate change as a reason for their decision on a planning appeal.  That is in the case of the proposed (now actually going ahead – hurrah) wind farm at Bilsthorpe in Nottinghamshire where – and I quote – “I take the view that the contribution to meeting regional targets for the generation of energy from renewable souces and the effect that this would have to contributing to tackling the urgent challenge of climate change represents a significant benefit which MORE THAN OUTWEIGHS the harm to the landscape” (my capitals).  So there you have it – climate change CAN be considered in planning decisions.

That means that climate change can be used as a reason to reject this application.  So get writing and tell the inspector that a precedent has been set which prioritised climate change.

A couple of weeks ago I met a Councillor from the Notts CC planning committee.  I recognised her and started talking about the Langton Pinxton situation and she said that they wanted to reject it but couldn’t.  WHAT?  They could have done that at the time!  NANC gave them the opportunity but they ignored it and were taken in by the smooth talking Mr Lenagh and the fear of running out of power.

And it gets worse for Notts.  Using the good old Freedom of Information Act NANC has obtained letters suggesting that UK Coal are interested in starting up an open cast mine in Cossall.  We were warned about this by a local resident who must have seen their pet geologists wandering around the place.  There have been 3 attempts to have an open cast site there in the past and all were knocked back.  But UK Coal don’t seem to have given up  and are saying that they are, and I quote “looking at all their landholdings with a view to maximising opportunities for surface mine coal production.  In Nottinghamshire we have undertaken some preliminary work on the Shortwood Farm prospect.”

So NANC’s work is not over it would seem.  Watch this space.

Derby say NO

Today Derbyshire County Council refused planning permission for a processing plant in Pinxton in Derbyshire.  ATH developments  wanted to reclaim and process coal from the spoil heap at the former Langton colliery  in Nottinghamshire.  But they failed! HA HA HA!  NANC were fighting it on climate change grounds as followers of our blog will know.  Finally it was defeated on transport issues regarding the big lorries going through Pinxton. 

While NANC would like to thank the residents of Pinxton we weren’t happy to see them consorting with the developer after the meeting suggesting alternative routes that did not go through Pinxton.  Now if they don’t want the lorries to go through Pinxton that is one thing but to consort with the developer so openly is disgraceful.  The washing plant will not produce jobs for Pinxton residents and they know that.  They said today to NANC that jobs would go to Nottinghamshire or be brought in.  The pit heap is not in Pinxton it is in Nottingham so why the interest?  Are they still after the money? 

So what happens next?  ATH must either submit a new planning application or go to appeal.  Both cost money.   We will be watching.

But what was also funny was that ATH were so confident of the application being passed that they announced it as a running certainty both in their industry paper Coal UK Reports and also on the Yahoo! finance page last month.   Boy are we laughing at that one.

NANC have noticed that ATH have located 2 million tonnes of exploitable reserves including those at Langton.  Make that 1.5 million tonnes mateys.  And don’t assume you will get the rest either.  In case you hadn’t noticed there is a grassroots opposition to coal across the country of which NANC is only a small part.  Small but beautifully formed.

ATH force decision

Christmas has come and gone and finally NANC have found out what is happening.  THe developers have forced Derbyshire County Council to take the application back to the planning committee and make a decision.  It is all very rushed so a reasonable decision is not to be expected.  It was only last week that we found out that the decision is to be made next week on the 26th January.  We still dont know the time and we also know that the planners have made a new report on the basis of a revised transport route through Notts but we haven’t seen the report and time is getting short.  Is this how democracy is run in this country?  Leave everything till the last possible minute so that interested parties don’t get a chance to have their input?  NANC will be represented at the hearing – again.  We don’t know if the people from Pinxton will be there.

We did find out a useful piece of information and that is ATH have deep pockets and short arms.  They are only paying 10p/tonne into the community fund whereas other despoilers of the land are paying up to 42p/tonne.  So not only are Pinxton being put upon with the transport but they are being short changed as well.

Derby postpone their decision

Well, we never expected this result.  Following a vigorous opposition to the application by some of the residents of Pinxton on the grounds of the traffic through the village, a motion was moved seconded and voted on by the councillors on the planning committee that they defer a decision on the application until after consultation with Notts CC about the possibility of the lorries going through Kirkby in Ashfield in Nottinghamshire and back to the M1 that way.  It looked like no one knew what to do next and all NANC can say is that the battle is not over yet.  So what happens next?  Well it appears that ATH can ask that the application be decided on as it is thus forcing Derby to make a decision, or they could go away and look at new routes for the lorries and then resubmit the application to both Notts and Derby and go through the whole process again.  But NANC have some advice for them: GIVE UP AND GO AWAY.  LEAVE IT IN THE GROUND AND KEEP THE LORRIES OFF THE STREETS OF PINXTON

Write to the Derbyshire Councillors on the planning committee

When NANC attended the planning meeting in Nottingham one Councillor said he had not had any letters about this issue.  Well lets change that at Derbyshire.  Lets write to the Councillors and tell them we don’t want new coal in Derbyshire.  Derby is under fire from planning applications to extract new coal by means of open cast mining.  There are at least 5 potential open cast mines in the pipeline in Derby including one that is cunningly disguised as cleaning up of polluted land.  So Derby know what the score is.  And they have voted to oppose them before so lets hope they continue to vote to oppose them.  So here is a list of the Councillors who will be on the planning committee:

Trevor Southerd (Lab) chair
Nigel Allwood (Lib Dem)
Beth Atkins (Lib Dem)
David Chapman (Lab)
Gail Newman (Lab)
Robert Parkinson (Cons)
Peter Riggott (Lab)
George Wharmby (Cons)
Barbara Wilson (Lab)
Paul Smith (Lab)

Write to them and ask them to vote NO.  Remember by the time this goes to committee we will have a Climate Change Bill committing us to an 80% cut in emissions by 2050 so we need to start now if we are going to achieve this target.