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.