We have been informed 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
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.
April 14, 2009 at 4:44 pm |
Good luck to NANC, from Friends of the Ercall opencast campaign group in Telford.
We are fighting the UK Coal plan to mine nearly a million tons of coal at our local beauty spot, abutting the Wrekin.Telford Against new Coal are doing good work here on the climate issue, though we differ slightly in aims – we put peoples health before coal companys profits, and insist that this Government amend ENGLISH planning guidance, to allow parity with the rest of the UK (Scotland and wales both now have 500 metre buffer zones and Health Impact assessments as mandatory planning considerations )
Your stance to get an Inspector to recognise a climate change issue as part of material planning, should be combined with our calls for 500 metre buffer zones and HIAs for ENGLAND – this way forward would give us twice the clout at Hazel Blears department, for the Secretary of State for Communities and local Government CAN amend the ENGLISH planning guidance, and the rest of the UK should then look to ENGLAND, for parity regarding climate change inclusion to planning guidance requirements.
We stand upon the sustainable Communities Act 2007, which clearly states on page 6 of the Schedule, item 1, point F, that local authorities must have regard for measures to be taken to conserve energy and increase the quantity of energy supplies which are produced from sustainable sources within a 30 mile radius of which they are consumed.
Point G, states that measures must be taken to reduce road traffic.
UK Coal plan to send the raped mineral to Rugeley 50 km, and Ratcliffe on Soar 105 km power stations from Huntington lane Opencast site in Telford, and a quick conversion of miles to metric, gives Rugeley as 1.5 miles over the Acts limit, and ratcliffe on Soar at 35 miles over.
Added to this, is the stated intention to transport all Coal by road, in 29ton arctics, so increasing traffic, and therefore breaching the Act.
UK COALS new interest in your area could be a by product of this act – if Ratcliffe is within 30 miles?
We have fought very hard in Telford to get a Health Impact assessment undertaken by the local council – at the local Public Health Director & Primary Care Trusts insistence after some badgering by ourselves – and helped by TANC, to who we are grateful.
Could it be that last years (April) corporate Manslaughter Act has something to do with the PCTs wanting to cover their backs against comeback should major developments like this go ahead, and it later emerges there are health concerns?
If so, this is a useful tool to enable direct pressure upon local councils by local Public Health Directors, who for their own protection, can do little else but call for Health Impact assessments if there is a “Public perception of a health risk” – I believe that an opencast mine and the effects of PM 2.5 particulates on peoples lives, conforms to the “Public perception of a health risk”.
The more it costs local PCTs, and councils, the more chance of refusal of applications, but I predict here, that IF, we cannot get the 500 metre buffer zones & HIASs for ENGLISH planning guidance, there will become a perception by the coal companies that ENGLAND is an easy touch in comparison to extracting coal from the rest of the UK by opencast methods, and allow a massive upsurge of opencast applications that will decimate the English countryside, and the health of its people, whilst those in Scotland and Wales, will remain in better health, and with their countrysides relatively untouched by opencasting.
Best wishes to all, Pat & friends of the Ercall.
July 21, 2009 at 2:28 pm |
We in the Minorca Opencast Protest Group, who are now fighting UK Coal’s application to hav an opencast mine on the Minorca site near Measham in Leicestershire echo Pat Judson’s points and urge all who read these comments to write to their MP and the Secretary of State for Local Government and communities asking for a change in the MPG3 guidance to include the requirement for a 500 metre buffer zone and the need for a HIA.
If you live in the area where their is a shallow coalfield check up with your Mineral Planning Officer as to whether the local mineral planning policy does include these two requirements. If they don’t , then start a local campaign to amend them.
Current Welsh guidance requires both ( HIA and 500 metre separation whilst in Scotland it is only a 500 metre buffer that is required. Scotland was first with the buffer – and apparently East Ayrshire District council was the first to introduce it after ‘flyrock’ (created by blasting escaped from an opencast site and then a bund (earth dyke) collapsed spreading soil ect over land outside the site, according to a Scottish Civil Servant.
We too are now seeking to persuade Leicestershire and Rutland PHCT to undertake a HIA on UK Coal’s application for Minorca.
For more on our campaign go to mopg.co.uk