Monday 20 October 2008

Public Inquiry


There will be a Public Inquiry into the appeal by Celtic Energy to the Planning Inspectorate at the Welsh Assembly.
This will take place on the 3rd of February 2009, 9-30 A.M. at Bethlehem Life Centre, Cefn Cribwr.
Anyone who wishes to speak or put forward evidence needs to turn up on the first day of the inquiry and to write to:-

Planning Inspectorate,
National Assembly for Wales,
Cathays Park,
Cardiff,
CF103NQ
04/09/08

Ref. P/07/569/MIN
P.I. Appeal .Ref A08/207 1885
Appellant Celtic Energy Ltd. Extract coal, Restoration and Aftercare
Location Margam Extension( Revised OCCS) Cefn Cribbwr Bridgend
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Tuesday 19 February 2008

Coal MTan

The Welsh Assembly Government has given more time to the consultation on the coal M Tan. IT IS VITAL THAT YOU WRITE TO THEM ASKING FOR THE ISSUES LAID OUT BELOW. EVERY LETTER COUNTS!!!


Following consideration of the consultation responses to the draft Coal MTAN in 2006, the research undertaken by the British Geological Survey and the One Wales agenda, a second consultation is being undertaken.
This focuses on a number of specific issues and will run for a period of 12 weeks. This consultation seeks views on various proposals and associated questions. You can access the information on:-

http://new.wales.gov.uk/consultations/currentconsultation/plancurrcons/finalcoaltanconsultation/?lang=en

The closing date for responses is: 23 May 2008
send to:-

Rosemary Thomas
Head of Planning
Division Planning Policy Branch
Planning Division
Welsh Assembly Government
Cathays Park Cardiff
CF10 3NQ


Consultation now closed. Awaiting publication of revised MTan
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Sunday 3 February 2008

Time Extension Until August 2008

The Time Extension has been allowed until August 2008.
The vote was very close 15-14.
We will have to suffer the impacts again and have another summer ruined!
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Monday 28 January 2008

LATEST NEWS

Saturday, 26 January 2008

More News

Neath/Port Talbot Planning Officers have recommended refusal. Planning meeting for final decision is on 29th January .
The company will probably appeal against the decisions of the councils if they go against them.

NEWS

One of the meetings to decide on the Park Slip Extension revised was held in Bridgend Civic Centre 17/01/08. There was overwhelming support for the planning officer, Mr. Martin Hooker’s, recommendation of refusal and the committee voted accordingly, and refused the application----(44 out of 47 votes. )One member of the committee stated that there were approximately 1,500 letters of objection. Another mentioned that there were many strong reasons for refusal.A commendable sign of the democratic process in Bridgend was that community representatives and a member of PACT were allowed a 3 minute deliberation . PACT are very grateful to the 44 councillors who committed to vote against this unacceptable and very controversial development.The next stage is that Neath/Port Talbot put forward their recommendation and meet to decide . ( It is a cross-boundary issue to be considered by both councils.)The mine manager made it clear at the end of his speech that if the decision was refusal, they would appeal and he stated his confidence that they would win !!!PACT are thankful and fortunate to have the support of local AM’s and MP’s from both counties .
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BROKEN PROMISES






OPENCAST SITECeltic Energy Margam
DO YOU WANT THIS ON YOUR DOORSTEP!!!
BROKEN PROMISES
-----------------------------
I sat in a Public Meeting

Not such a long time ago,

And listened to Celtic Energy

And their promises to restore………


“The need for energy is great

And we have to dig for coal

But this will be the last phase

The end to the big, black hole.


We’ll do a deep or drift mine

And employ 400 men”…….

So what happened to their speeches?

Broken promises once again!!!!


And now the cycle starts again

They want another phase,

More destruction and pollution

and it’s only us who pays,


For PM10’s and PM 2.5’s

Can make you ill and kill !

We’re wiser now to mining dust so

GET OUT OF KENFIG HILL !!!!


We do not want your opencast

Just leave our land alone.

You can keep your ‘Sunshine Miners’

Who destroy our pleasant home!


Dust and diesel fumes can travel

Invisible in the air.

It settles in our childrens’ lungs

And you don’t seem to care.


This time we stand together

The community will unite.

You have dug a hole between us

But now we’re ready for the fight!!!
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Sunday 6 January 2008

The New Coal Age

By George Monbiot.
Published in the Guardian 9th October 2007.

A vast new opencast pit will ruin local people’s lives and wreck the government’s climate change policies. How was it allowed to happen?As I watched the machine scraping away the first buckets of soil, one thought kept clanging through my head. “If this is allowed to happen, we might as well give up now.

Read More at:-
www.monbiot.com


George Monbiot’s book
Heat: how to stop the planet burning is published with new material in paperback.
www.monbiot.com
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Rigged

By George Monbiot.
Published in the Guardian 11th December 2007

Ladies and gentlemen, I have the answer! Incredible as it might seem, I have stumbled across the single technology which will save us from runaway climate change! From the goodness of my heart I offer it to you for free. No patents, no small print, no hidden clauses. Already this technology, a radical new kind of carbon capture and storage, is causing a stir among scientists. It is cheap, it is efficient and it can be deployed straight away. It is called … leaving fossil fuels in the ground.

www.monbiot.com
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OUR STORY

We’ve had opencast mining in our community for almost 60 years. The most recent work started six years ago. In spring 2005, an application to extend the site by 51 hectares to the west was put forward by the mining company, Celtic Energy Ltd. This would have been through parts of ancient woodland and could have had an effect on biodiversity.The existing mine looks absolutely horrific. It’s a huge, black hole which looks like a moonscape. The mine is in the valley so you can see it from all directions - from the motorway to the sand dunes.It is also really close to the community. This means the noise and dust created can have a big impact, which makes our area a unique case.Strong public feeling
When Celtic Energy submitted the application there was a meeting in Bridgend. The public were allowed to attend but not to comment. That’s where I met other residents who were against the plan and together we set up PACT – Protecting and Conserving Together.The strength of public feeling against the mine is incredible. Now hundreds of people are involved, but it’s still down to a few of us to do all the organising. Unhealthy situationPACT approached the Cardiff Institute of Society of Health and Ethics to carry out a health impact assessment of the proposed extension on people living in the area. Their research came to the conclusion that the negative aspects of expansion would outweigh the positive. The report said; “The loss of amenity, visual impact, nuisance dust, noise and pollution are strong arguments against further open casting close to this community.”But health is not an issue that has to be taken into account in planning at the moment. This needs to change because, the way things are, councils can just pick and choose what they want to take out of something like a health impact assessment.
I don’t think there is a balance between industry and the needs of the people. Legislation on dust and noise is all geared up to help the industry. This means it doesn’t matter how much residents complain, because whenever noise or dust levels are measured they seem to be deemed OK. That’s why we’re calling for tighter legislation.Last month Celtic Energy withdrew their expansion plans. But we weren’t celebrating because that’s not the end of it. They have also put in an application for a time extension of another year for the existing site. No time extension has ever been refused.

About Me

The ‘Protecting and Conserving Together’ group (PACT) exists for the benefit and protection of the environment within the local area and is particularly concerned with preventing the expansion of opencast mining. PACT draws its membership mainly from the local communities representing truly local knowledge and concerns that are fundamental to the planning process. The group has many members and many more supporters representing a broad cross-section of society both locally and elsewhere. Its membership and supporters include MPs, AMs, clergy, environmentalists, professionals, economists, wildlife experts and scientists. The opencast impacts upon these three County Boroughs: Cefn Cribwr and Aberbaiden (Ogmore Constituency) Kenfig Hill and Pyle (Bridgend Constituency) Pen-Y-Bryn, Bryndu and Margam ( Margam, Neath/Port Talbot Constituency)