Mine plan disaster for village
Although I understand the gentleman's pride in British industry ("Mining plea", Mailbox, August 18), I think we need to look at the bigger picture.
Scotland and Wales both have their 500-metre mining buffer zones but England doesn't. On a large scale isn't that discrimination? On a smaller scale it means that in Leicestershire there is a primary school less than 500 metres away from the proposed Measham opencast mine.
The letter commented on the amount of employment that the mine would generate, but since there is another opencast mine about six miles from where I sit at the moment, it seems likely UK Coal will simply transfer their employees. Extracting coal, I believe, is a science.
I moved to the area a year ago, and my husband and I were pleased to find Measham – it was a village that was being helped to regenerate after years of mining activity.
The local area and people were looking forward to a brighter future with the promise that Measham was part of the National Forest. This gave us hope that we had found a bit of England that was finally realising the importance of the environment.
However, just six months after we moved in, UK Coal started to leaflet the people nearest to the area they wish to mine – as you can imagine we were horrified. But the shock was not just about our new home being within an 800-metre radius of the proposed opencast mine, but also the fact that a community in the heart of the new National Forest with a thriving regeneration project has had this hope taken away.
Although I realise that power needs to be sourced by our own country if possible, I cannot understand why, after spending thousands of pounds on local regeneration, the council and the Government are even looking at this site for opencast mining, since UK Coal is already mining in the county.
There seems to be a lack of continuity within the environmental sector of Government and I hope that the council and local community will fight UK Coal now that the application has been submitted.
Many of the local residents have already started the Minorca Opencast Protest Group
The opencast mine if allowed, will have a detrimental effect on the land and local community's health and instead of looking at a bright future, Measham and surrounding villages will be yet again forced to look back to its mining past.
Angela Shoulders, Measham.
3 Comments
by Andy Bradley, Newton Burgoland
Monday, September 07 2009, 1:27PM
“Our family currently lives in the village of Newton Burgoland, Coalville, Leicestershire.
I run a national consultancy specialising in sustainable construction and am currently involved in the design of the Leicester Building Schools for the Future schemes.
We have been working closely with Leicester City Council for almost a year on helping to deliver the LCC vision for becoming the first city in the UK to move towards real carbon neutral development.
I am involved in carbon reduction projects all over the UK and abroad. I have witnessed many public bodies jumping on the "green bandwagon" over the last few years and investing large sums of capital on schemes which are more likely to generate newspaper headlines rather than save any carbon.
My experience to date with Leicester City Council's team is very different. As a local person, it gives me pride that LCC has a desire to lead the UK in the move towards a carbon neutral future.
Over the last few months I have been closely following the Minorca Opencast Mine proposal by UK Coal. I have attended the UK Coal public consultations and the Minorca Opencast Protest Group meetings. I have also now downloaded the Planning Documents and reviewed them thoroughly.
Frankly, I am astounded that this proposal is being given any credibility at all by LCC.
I grew up in North Lanarkshire, Scotland where opencast mining was prevalent. The impact the creation and operation of a new site has on a community is devastating. Despite all the assurances from UK Coal on what they will do to limit dust, flyrock and noise I can assure you that the reality of living adjacent to a site being formed is very much different.
In Scotland (and Wales) there is a 500m buffer zone where sites cannot be located adjacent to occupied buildings. This is in place for several reasons; risk of injury from flyrock, noise nuisance, dust nuisance and risk of long term illness from dust particles (although there is no current medical proof on this last point, there are many studies currently underway and there is evidence that the number of visits to GP surgeries increase in communities with open cast mines).
The risk of injury from flyrock is very real and prior to the implementation of the buffer zone there were numerous incidences of injuries being sustained. Given the proximity of the local residences at Minorca / Measham and the fact that there are also two primary schools I would think that this would give LCC real cause for concern.
The UK Coal planning document discusses the UK's need for energy and paints the picture that the "lights will go out" unless the Minorca site is mined. The reality of this is somewhat different. I have discussed the proposals with my contacts in E-On. E-On operate the Ratcliffe on Soar power station where most of the Minorca Coal would be taken. This power station is an 2000MW nodal point on the grid. The total coal extracted from Minorca will be used as "top-up" and would be burned through in 40-60days (depending on time of year and exact calorific value).
It should also be noted that Ratcliffe on Soar does not have any immediate plans for installing Carbon Capture Technology therefore all of the energy produced is done so using the most carbon intensive form of energy production currently known to man... I do not understand how LCC can possibly support this whilst they are driving towards being the UK's leading city for a carbon neutral future.
The "burn" of the coal is only part of the Carbon Equation. There is no mention within the Planning Proposal of the carbon dioxide created by all the vehicles and machinery used during the excavation and transportation of the coal. This will be another major contributer to pollution.
Andy Bradley BEng(Hons), MCIBSE, CEng, LCC
Director, Hulley & Kirkwood”
by IVR, Leicestershire.
Wednesday, September 02 2009, 1:46PM
“Reading the correspondents comments about new proposals for open cast mining in Leicestershire it should be remembered that residents near once active pits probably sit on seams of coal that are now financially viable to extract. The health determents to coal workers are well documented. Unfortunately nearby residents are under the new proposals also likely to be affected. Should they not be protected by a buffer zone and should their health not be assessed by a health impact assessment? There are many old pits in Leicestershire that may soon see new coal activity.”
by Geoff Caldwell, Measham
Tuesday, September 01 2009, 1:05PM
“I couldn't agree more with Angela Shoulders. This application, and the possibility of others within the area of NW Leicestershire, is a real threat to residents who have come to regard this part of the county as truly at the Heart of The National Forest. How can this be allowed to happen when, in England and Wales, the application could not be considered because of their 500 meter buffer zone, something that people who live in England just don't have. Make no mistake, if this application is allowed it will bring misery to the whole area for many, many years. There will be a great loss of visual amenity, noise, dust and 144 heavy lorry movements a day on small, country roads. Users of the A42 should prepare themselves for even more problems on that stretch of the road round the Ashby de la Zouch junction.”