PR 76 6/9/10

PROTESTERS AGAIN FACE AN UPHILL CHALLENGE TO CONVINCE COUCILLORS TO REJECT THE MINORCA APPLICATION FOR A SECOND TIME

On Tuesday September 7th the Planning Committee of Northwest Leicestershire District Council will again be considering UK Coal’s planning application for a surface mine on the old Minorca Colliery site between Measham and Swepstone. Last time this item was discussed in October 2009 the recommendation before the Committee was essentially one of No Objection, but representations by Ward Councillors Richard Blunt (Appleby) and Jason Sommerfield (Measham) plus a three minute address by Steve Leary for The Minorca Opencast Protest Group (MOPG) resulted in a unanimous vote to reject the application.

Now, having reconsidered and in part revised their proposal, in July UK Coal plc resubmitted over 600 pages of new documentation and initiated a new round of consultations, which will culminate at a special meeting of the Regulatory Board and Development Control Committee of Leicestershire County Council on October 15th. Already Measham, Swepstone and Snarestone Parish Councils have reconsidered the proposals and have recommended to Leicestershire County Council that the proposal be rejected. It seems that MOPG has to again persuade the Planning Committee of North West District Council to reject the advice of their Officer and recommend to Leicestershire County Council that the application be rejected.

Members of the Committee have been sent a letter outlining why MOPG still opposes this scheme which they claim will affect many local people, as MOPG estimate 93 houses are less than 500 metres from the proposed site boundary. The letter also points out that they consider the data used to indicate how safe the proposed development will be in terms of the noise and dust generated plus the potential impact on the River Mease SAC means that any conclusions drawn by Wardle Armstrong on behalf of UK Coal are unreliable.

In addition MOPG claim that many areas of concern initially raised by MOPG over a range of issues have been completely ignored by UK Coal and its Agent. In all, MOPG claim that although Wardle Armstrong’s report might be independent it certainly is not objective. The Members have also been sent copies of what will be MOPG’s new set of objections to Leicestershire County Council.
Steve Leary for MOPG said,

“On Tuesday, MOPG will be making a robust defence of our claim that the evidence that has been presented by UK Coal plc and their Agent, Wardle Armstrong is defective and unsound. The advice offered to the Members on aspects of the Government’s Energy Policy by UK Coal we will argue is out of date. Wardle Armstrong have done nothing about revising the partial advice they gave last time about how to interpret Government Planning policy and they are guilty of the same kind of error this time.

In addition this application is, we will argue, unsafe since in the evidence offered about noise, dust and hydrology there is insufficient base line data put into the analysis they have undertaken from which to draw reliable conclusions. Hence our fear is still for example, that irreparable damage will be done to the River Mease SAC.

Lastly this is an unpopular application. Three Parish Councils representing approximately 5,500 local people have, for the second time, voted to object to this application. This is despite the offer from UK Coal to help to restore a small section of the Ashby Canal. This, we will suggest to the Members, is an important factor that also supports our case for rejecting this application.

MOPG then has every confidence that on Tuesday history will repeat itself and this application will be rejected by North West Leicestershire District Council for a second time.”

IT ShOULD BE NOTED THAT THIS IS NOT THE FINAL DECISION. NWLDC IS A CONSULTEE AND THE FINAL DECISION WILL BE MADE BY LEICESTERSHIRE COUNTY COUNCIL ON OCTOBER 15TH.

END

FOR MORE INFORMATION ON THIS PRESS RELEASE CONTACT:
STEVE LEARY, SPOKESPERSON, MOPG
tel 05601 767981,
email  steve46leary@googlemail.com

FOR MORE INFORMATION ON MOPG PLEASE GO TO:
 http://www.mopg.co.uk or
 http://www.leicestershirevillages.com/measham/minorca-protest.html