A new FOI request to Notts CC showed an email from SLR Consulting who are being employed by UKCoal with a statement that UKCoal were going to put in a planning application to extract 1.8 – 2 million tonnes of coal and conveniently there was a Google Earth map of the area with the propective mining site outlined in red!
Quick! Quick! Tell the residents! But first let the Evening Post know! So an article appeared in the Evening Post with UKCoal giving a deliberately evasive reply – well we expect nothing less from Stuart Oliver. With the invaluable help of the local MP and his opposite number two meetings were arranged – one in Cossall and one in Trowell. Both meetings were well attended and there should be an action committee in place very soon. We learnt a lot more – like for example UKCoal have bought Uplands farm as well, meaning they have an even bigger potential hole to get coal out of.
When you start to tell people what they are up against it is quite scary. In the past there used to be a presumption against open cast coaling in Nottinghamshire but new local plans are being drafted and it looks like unless there is significant public input demanding that this be retained then we will lose this presumption and open cast will be a lot easier to get past the planning process. The Government have even written a guide to how to get past the planning process especially for UKCoal – but they don’t call it that they call it MPS2. And don’t forget the Coal Forum – a body set up by the Department of Business and Regulatory Reform to – and I use their words – “secure the long term future of coal fired power generation”. With open cast coal not being refused permission and tacit Government support for open cast the battle lines have been redrawn against the community. This should not go unchallenged.
