Bid to rework Butterwell opencast site
BRITAIN’S biggest coal company is bidding to resurrect opencast mining operations in a swathe of Northumberland countryside which was extensively dug up for more than 15 years.
UK Coal wants to extract a million tonnes of coal and 200,000 tonnes of fireclay from 250 acres of land at Butterwell, north of Morpeth – where Europe’s largest opencast mine was worked from the mid-1970s to the early 1990s. Butterwell Disposal Point
The scheme would involve the removal and reclamation of the disused Butterwell Disposal Point, where coal from local sites was stocked and then loaded onto trains for delivery to customers.
Two years ago, sites at Butterwell and Steadsburn, near Widdrington, were earmarked by county planning officials as the only two areas left in Northumberland where opencast mining would be acceptable in the future.
Since then the situation has changed dramatically, with attempts to put the shackles on surface mining operations thwarted by Government decisions and industry objections.
In 2007, ministers granted permission to the Banks Group for a huge mine at Shotton near Cramlington – despite it having been rejected by the county council and the site lying in an official opencast constraint area.
That in turn forced county councillors to also approve UK Coal’s bid to opencast at Potland Burn near Ashington, despite that site also being in its constraint area.
UK Coal says the Butterwell site will be worked over four and a half years, generate up to 84 jobs, remove the former disposal point complex and coal stocking yards and restore the area to agriculture.
The site is located between the villages of Longhirst and Linton, but UK Coal says its operations will not cause problems of noise or dust. Yesterday, county councillor Milburn Douglas, whose ward includes the Linton area, said he expects some local opposition to the plan. “This area of Northumberland has been opencasted for 50 to 60 years and I am sure some local people will say enough is enough.
“We have recently had giant wind turbines imposed on us at Lynemouth and now it looks like we are going back to the old days of opencast mining at Butterwell. It is nearby communities that suffer from opencasting and I hope the county council will examine this scheme very carefully.”
UK Coal spokesman Stuart Oliver said a planning application will be submitted soon. “We held a public exhibition on Wednesday, which was attended by about 50 people who seemed to understand the need for this coal. There were issues about transport and site restoration and we will look to address those.”
From journal live
