Opencast campaigners get ready for fight
CAMPAIGNERS are bracing themselves to fight renewed attempts to mine more than half a million tonnes of coal in their midst.
A group, the No to Opencast Today or Tomorrow (NOTT) was formed after UK Coal announced they wanted to extract 556,000 tonnes of coking coal from land between Dipton and Leadgate, near Consett, County Durham.
Although the plans have yet to be considered the planning authority, Durham County Council, residents have vowed to remain vigilant. Last night NOTT members held a meeting at Dipton Community Centre.
Spokesman David Shield said: “We started off on May 7, 2007 saying how we would be affected if a big hole was dug right in the middle of our villages. The answer is simple and should be obvious to anyone.
“It makes a mess and no amount of fine words, promises or strident assertions can change that fact. We will oppose this for the sake of our children.”
NOTT secured more than 3,000 signatures from residents opposing the plans. UK Coal has said the scheme could take up to six years, would create 38 jobs and provide much-needed coke for the steel industry.
A spokesman said: “This is only a short-term intrusion on the countrywide and the restoration will enhance the ecology of the area.
“The bottom line is that we have got to get our energy from somewhere.”
UK Coal is proposing to create a nature conservation site adjacent to the proposed mining site.
Should the application for extraction of coal gain planning approval, UK Coal plans to use nearby ponds for the translocation of the great crested newts from an existing pond on the site of Brooms Pond.
A UK Coal spokesman said some “amendments” had been made to the site following the original application after discussions with planners.
The company hoped the amended application would be determined one way or the other by the planning authority, Durham County Council, “later in this year”.
From Journal Live\
We hope very much that the Durham campaign groups would follow the lead in action that Telfords Friends Of The Ercall took – pressure the Primary Care Trust there to get a Health Impact assessment undertaken, before anyone, even local council planning, take a decision on this.
Last years Corporate manslaughter Act that came in, is a great help in”persuading” those in power who have to make the decisions for mines to go ahead, to cover their backs, by at least requiring a Health Impact assessment be undertaken.
This then gives you ammunition to use at a Public inquiry.
England UNITE! Write to the secretary of State for Communities and Local Government , Mr John Denham, NOW, to demand that the Government amend planning guidance for opencast mining to require the same conditions as Scotland and Wales.
Namely, 500 metre buffer zones from homes for any workings, and full recognition of Health Imapact Assessments for planning decisions, and Public Inquiries.
The Scots and welsh have these basic Human Rights – why cant we?
Good luck to all of you at Durham.
Pat Judson & Friends of the Ercall.