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.
