Welcome To The NSMAG Website
LATEST NEWS: THURSDAY 17th NOVEMBER 2011
CITY OF YORK COUNCIL AGREE ADJOURMENT OF APPEAL HEARING
We have just been informed that City of York Council (CYC) has agreed to postpone the appeal enquiry originally scheduled for 6th December at Escrick Village Hall.
As you will note from CYC's attached letter, it appears that UK Coal are going to submit a new planning proposal for the site. CYC state in their letter, that they will allow 6 months for UK Coal to lodge an 'acceptable' planning application before they recommence the enquiry process.
We will contact our supporters when we know more about UK Coal's planning proposal for NSM and the dates for the road shows that will precede that application.
Regards
Tim Williams
Chairman, NSM Action Group
info@northselbymine.com
Read more about UK Coal's continued attempts to avoid planning conditions at other former mines:
UK COAL - RESTORATION COMEDY
When UK Coal was given permission to strip out coal from land at Lounge, near Ashby-de-la-Zouch in Leicestershire, in 1989, it was on the strict condition that the former Coal Depot be restored to countryside once the work was finished.
That permission expired in 2004 and still the site has not been restored. But UK Coal isn't just dilly-dallying over the job: it's trying to overturn the condition so it can develop the site and make extra profits.
After enforcement notices had no effect, Leicestershire County Council has finally threatened UK Coal with legal action and, unless it sees restoration work start within the next three months, it says it will seek a court order to force the greening of the area – still technically a greenfield site. Despite this, the mining company still boasts of its plan for a 79,000sq m specialist distribution warehouse to be developed in a joint venture with logistics firm Gazeley Plc.
Residents near another potential opencast site at the former Minorca Colliery just down the road in Measham fear the same thing will happen to them if UK Coal is allowed to profit by ruining greenfield sites it can sell to developers afterwards. Although no application has been submitted, the company has mooted plans for opencast operations at Minorca.
A dossier prepared by the Minorca Open Cast Protest Group (MOPG) says: "Local communities are learning about the use UK Coal makes of the planning system in its attempts to convert the temporary use of the land which is allowed for mineral extraction purposes to its permanent use as land suitable for a range of developments".
For instance, in 2001 UK Coal was given permission to opencast mine at Cutacre, in Bolton, on condition that it turn the site into a country park once the work was finished. Yet now UK Coal's operations are complete, what's on the cards for the site? An industrial park! Bolton Council is keen to bring in the extra jobs, but plenty of locals recall how the restoration condition, imposed after a public inquiry, went some way to placate those who fiercely fought the mining proposal in the first place.
Taken from Private Eye no. 1260, 16 April – 29 April 2010.
