Mining opposition
PLANS for a new surface mine less than a mile from Douglas will go on display to the community this Friday.
And given past objections to open cast mines in the area, Scottish Coal could soon be facing local opposition.
The main objection is likely to be the closeness of the Mainshill site not just to Douglas but to the Lady Home Hospital only half a mile from where work would be taking place.
''The community is under siege from open cast mining,'' said local activist Lindsay Addison, who lives near the site.
Scottish Coal announced this week that it is launching a comprehensive public consultation exercise for the new proposed surface mine at Mainshill, with local people having the chance to see the plans and talk to staff this Friday in the St Bride's Centre.
An environmental impact assessment is also underway which seeks comments from statutory and non-statutory consultees about the content of the environmental statement that will accompany the planning application.
Scottish Coal's planning chief Colin Ortlepp said: "We would like to encourage local people to go to our consultation events and get involved in the process.
''Plans of the proposed site will on display in St Bride's Centre, Douglas, on Friday February 22, from 2pm to 8pm and Scottish Coal staff will be on hand to discuss the proposal.
''This site will bring new jobs and new money into the local economy and we hope that we can once again demonstrate our commitment to work with communities during the planning application process.
''Further consultation events will take place in due course.''
The Mainshill site is about 1km east of the village of Douglas lying between New Mains Farm and the B7078 (what was the old A74) close to Junction 12 of the M74.
It comprises mainly conifer plantation and pasture with small areas of mixed woodland.
The site is specifically identified in the South Lanarkshire Minerals Local Plan as having the potential for the establishment of new surface mining.
It also falls within the Douglas Valley Area of Search for Opencast Coal as identified in the Glasgow & Clyde Valley Structure Plan.
Scottish Coal believe there is around 1.7 million tonnes of coal and 160,000 tonnes of fireclay just below the surface of the ground at Mainshill.
If planning permission is granted, the company said the site would provide 93 full time direct jobs, as well as ancillary work for local firms. Work would start in October.
The coal would be extracted over a period of three to four years with a further 12 months devoted to restoring the site back to farmland and woodland.
Mr Addison said that the plans were not unexpected, but that originally Scottish Coal had told him that after Glentaggart, Broken Cross, Poniel and Dalquhandy, it would probably not be returning to South Lanarkshire.
But now it had come back, and the Mainshill Wood site was going to be even more disruptive and even more noticeable than Broken Cross had been.
''And what is in it for us?'' he asked. ''There is no benefit to the community.''
Politicians and the council in the past had argued that mining brought jobs and economic benefit to the area, but he disputed that - arguing that the direct jobs went to migrant workers who, as one site closed, moved on to the next site.
The Douglas area was still the second-worst unemployment blackspot in South Lanarkshire.
''They are damaging beautiful countryside, ruining the environment and even ruining the air quality because they are removing the woods,'' he said. ''They promise jobs and an economic boom; that has never happened.''
* The last set of plans lodged by Scottish Coal, for extensions to the Broken Cross site near Rigside, attracted over 650 objections.
Email to a friend
Print this page
Looking for...
Featured advertisers
Jobs
Search for a job
Motors
Search for a car
Property
Search for a house
Weather for Lanark
Saturday 04 February 2012
Today
Heavy sleet showers
Temperature: -1 C to 3 C
Wind Speed: 38 mph
Wind direction: South
Tomorrow
Light showers
Temperature: 2 C to 5 C
Wind Speed: 13 mph
Wind direction: South west
