Comments for Notts Against New Coal (NANC)

Comment on UKCoal show their hand by burdie53

burdie53 — Thu, 05 Nov 2009 14:43:04 +0000

Hi John
You can see we have responded to your request. Hope that helps

Comment on UKCoal show their hand by mr john dilks

mr john dilks — Sat, 03 Oct 2009 17:06:39 +0000

hi i live in babbington village is there any way i can get to look at the map with the out line of the open cast at shortwood farm

Comment on Where do CPRE stand on open cast mining? by Burdie33

Burdie33 — Thu, 13 Aug 2009 19:04:43 +0000

Broxtowe CPRE are on board with the campaign – hurrah

Comment on Open Cast in Leicestershire by Burdie33

Burdie33 — Fri, 07 Aug 2009 12:46:00 +0000

Hi Steve
do you need any help in getting opposition letters signed. Let me know via the NANC email address and we can get something sorted

Comment on ATH have put in an appeal…and more by Steve Leary

Steve Leary — Tue, 21 Jul 2009 14:28:36 +0000

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

Comment on Open Cast in Leicestershire by Steve Leary

Steve Leary — Fri, 17 Jul 2009 22:44:38 +0000

Yes it is all true. A local protest group the Minorca Opencast Protest Group (MOPG) is fighting this application. It has a web site at mopg.co.uk. It is holding a Public Protest / Campaign Meeting on August 5th at St Laurence Church Hall, High Street, Measham, Leicestershire

Comment on ATH have put in an appeal…and more by Pat Judson

Pat Judson — Tue, 14 Apr 2009 16:44:59 +0000

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.

Comment on Derby say NO by Mike

Mike — Wed, 04 Mar 2009 07:42:34 +0000

First blog I read after wakeup from sleep today!

________________________
Proven! How to cure Acne Naturally.Email to mike.wilson80@ymail.com for more information.

Comment on NANC attend the planning committee hearing and get angry by burdie53

burdie53 — Tue, 14 Oct 2008 19:52:18 +0000

We do not need coal. At any one time at least one power station is not online and the lights haven’t gone out yet. The Government has committed us to EU targets to produce 20% of our energy from renewables. In this country most of our renewable energy is generated as electricity and if we met that 20% target of renewable energy that would be 40% of electricity generated from renewables. That would more than compensate for the coal fired power stations that are due to be closed in the next 10 years because they do not meet EU pollution targets. The Governments energy policy is a shambles. It jumps from one disaster to the next. We wasted North Sea gas in the 1980’s (coinciding with the shutting down of the coal mines by the way) and now we have to import most of our gas and 75% of our coal. The development at Langton will not materially affect the amount of coal we import and will be used up within the month at Radcliffe power station. It was, and is, all about making money now that coal has become economically attractive again.

The Government is currently debating the Climate Change Bill. This will legally commit the country to reducing our greenhouse gas emissions by a minimum of 60% by 2050. Since Labour came to power, greenhouse gas emissions have actually gone up from 1990 levels, largely due to the roll to coal and increased aviation emissions. Allowing coal to be recovered, no matter how relatively small the amount recovered at Langton will be, will not help us meet these reduced emission targets. How can this Government on one hand bring in a world-leading climate bill committing us to reducing our carbon emissions by law and at the same time plan to build at least 6 new coal fired power stations that would effectively ‘eat up’ 50% of permitted emissions, leaving the rest of us to make the sacrifices necessary for these targets to be met? We as a country need to get ourselves sorted in our energy policy. 50% of our overall energy demand is for heating space and water and we are at the same time wasting heat by the inefficient way we generate electricity at the moment. Combined heat and power, which is commonly used on the continent, can provide both heat and electricity and increase the efficiency of fossil fuel use from 40% to 85%, meaning we use less fuel and it costs us less and lasts longer. Combined heat and power can alleviate fuel poverty as several towns and cities in the UK have shown. Aberdeen and Southampton are two that spring to mind. We do not need more coal or new coal. We need to develop a fully integrated energy supply system that uses the large amounts of renewable energy available to us as a windy island together with energy efficiency in the form of combined heat and power and all of us doing our bit by switching to more energy efficient appliances and turning things off when we don’t need them.
I can understand that people from a mining area might see coal as the salvation but ask a miner – it is dangerous and dirty work. The people who call for a return to mining are largely those who have not worked down the pit and sentimentalise it. This country is perfectly capable of energy security i.e. generating our own power ourselves but what we need is a bit of imagination and leadership from the Government and not sliding back to a technology that is outdated and dirty. Oh, and by the way we also import coal from Russia as well.
I hope we have gone some way to answering some of your comments and thank you for reading our blog. Do try to read more about the subject before you come out with comments you cannot substantiate or justify next time however

Comment on NANC attend the planning committee hearing and get angry by g scot

g scot — Wed, 08 Oct 2008 21:54:58 +0000

renewable what and where are they coming from.coal is here and for the next 30 years untill more newclear stations are up ang running ,we will have to use it .no importing gas from the ussr or oil from the arab lands.