Village opencast battle
May 26 2008 by Ben Guy, The Journal
VILLAGERS are fighting plans for an opencast mine near their homes, fearing the excavations would destroy their tranquil life.
Residents of Halton Lea Gate, which is close to the Northumberland and Cumbria border, are worried that proposals to extract 140,000 tonnes of coal from a 46 hectare site would come within 30 metres of homes.
The plan has been put forward by HM Developments, with a proposal for an 80-lodge tourist development also planned.
But chairman of the protest group and village resident Nick Kennon said the plans were bad news for the area.
He said: “They are saying that the mining needs to be carried out to stabilise the land for the tourist development, but people are cynical about that.
“There are a lot of concerns, the main one being the environmental impact.
“The main issues for Halton Lea Gate will be dust and noise pollution.
“But there is also the effect on the wildlife we have in the area – such as the otters, the red kites, the deer and the trout and salmon we have.
“We accept that there is an economic benefit to taking coal out of the ground, but the environmental impact will be horrendous.
“We are not against opencast mining or coal, but there are more appropriate places to do this – does it really have to be done in an Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty?”
The site would be accessed via the A689 road, with up to 12 lorries a day likely to be leaving the site.
It is not the first time villagers have faced a battle against opencast mining plans – in 1999 a similar application failed after fierce opposition from people living in the area.
Because the proposal is still at an early stage it has not yet been submitted as an official planning application.
However Northumberland County Council has provided a scoping report to the developer, which would be required were a application to be submitted.
A council spokesman said: “Currently no planning application has been submitted for this development.
“The county council has provided a scoping opinion at the request of the developers. This provides advice on the required scope and content of the Environmental Statement which would have to accompany a planning application in accordance with the Environmental Impact Assessment Regulations.
“It is understood that a planning application is likely to be submitted during the summer of 2008.
“When a planning application is submitted the county council will be undertaking full consultation and publicity on the proposals and there will be opportunity for local people to give their views.” Last month 130 people attended a meeting to discuss the plans, and Mr Kennon said the majority had been against them.
HM Developments were unavailable for comment.
