I can’t say I’m surprised. There were no material planning reasons for rejecting it.

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Can we please have the Veolia scheme approved now and built asap plus the Nuon Windfarm near me too, recycling targets and climate change wait for no man, let alone dithering Salopians.

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In my view if the location was Shrewsbury this would never be allowed however as the majority of the people who live in Telford are working class it would appear that no strong opposition is forthcoming. For further evidence note the closure of services at the PRH as opposed to Shrewsbury Hospital.

A case of double standards

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this is unbelievable – such a pretty area, this is not on at all.

As for those who say there was no valid reasons to turn it down, has anyone ever seen the dust that comes off these things, how many kids have to die of asthma before planners and government learn we need to regulate dust, especially coal dust and dust from power stations which is fine enough to penertrate deep into the lung

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As I posted when it was announced ‘When big business wants it, big business gets it’. The people who live local to these rapes of our countryside can protest as much as they want, in the final analysis they’ll get stamped on because there’s money to be made so who gives a damn’ about them.

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Secretary of State John Denham, who gave the go-ahead for this coal mine, recently wrote in the Independent newspaper, about what the Labour government is doing to tackle climate change.

On Friday 4th September 2009 he talked about empowering local communities to ‘find[ing] solutions to the challenges we face today’.

Like climate change?

His article went on…

‘Taking climate change, central government can lead – as Labour did in introducing the world’s first Climate Change Bill – but it is local councils that can and do drive change on the ground, reducing waste, boosting recycling and developing greener public transport.’

According to the article, it seems that Telford & Wrekin Council was undecided as to how to proceed with the mine and that it was the Labour government that pushed it through.

What do others think?

Mr Denham went on to say

‘The importance of local solutions and innovation is why I’m asking whether councils have all the powers they need to drive forward action in their communities on climate change. Should councils, for example, be given local carbon budgets as a spur?

And how do we accelerate councils working with local people to determine, finance and design a shift to greener living?’

I think that we will only accelerate councils working with local people to determine, finance and design a shift to greener living when the message from central government on climate change is unambiguous.

At the moment the message from central government on climate change seems rather contradictory.

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Why not just concrete the whole area and build lots of high rise flats everywhere just like Birmingham….whoopee! Who needs countryside anyway? Certainly not the sort of people who move to this area.

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Y Mab Darogon said:

‘the majority of the people who live in Telford are working class’

For the sake of all readers, I suggest you substantiate and clarify this statement with comparative references to Shrewsbury.

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I live less than half a mile down wind from this site and it`s not so much the mining that saddens me, it`s the lies about returning it to it`s former state.UK Coal make no profit from this coal.Trust me, it`ll be another huge housing development. Thats where the true value lies.

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UK Coal may have won the right to extract -but only within a certain time limit, with heavy penalties should they go over, getting the Coal out, could become harder than they ever thought possible.
My thanks to all who fought the fight, and voiced their concerns at the Inquiry – the propoer place to have done so, debate now will get us nowhere, the times have changed overnight with this decision, and the campaign will continue.
Pat for COTEYG.

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It has already been said that once the coal has gone the land will be sold for housing. More jobs, more houses, both are needed.

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I agree that we need new sources of energy very quickly, Richard, and that we need lots of new jobs, Jet.

In another discussion I highlighted the most environmentally-friendly technologies available -http://www.shropshirestar.com/2009/07/16/joy-at-windfarm-ruling/ #2.

Which of these 7 green technologies would you be in favour of, Richard, or doesn’t it matter as long as the lights stay on?

Would you not agree that green technologies create more jobs per kilowatt hour than conventional energy, Jet?

‘Feed-in tarriffs’ will come into force from April 2010 in the UK, creating a real incentive for individuals, families, neighbourhoods and wider communities to sell locally-generated green energy to the grid at guaranteed, generous rates.

These feed-in tarriffs will provide householders or communities with a decent financial return on smaller-scale, decentralised, community-owned renewable energy schemes.

Would you both not agree that decentralised green energy generation has the potential -if introduced by visionary local and national governments creating a generous enough incentive in the system- to simultaneously provide for the needs of the present (keeping the lights on) and the future (mitigating climate change) if we could just grasp the impact that a green industrial revolution would have on jobs and our manufacturing base?

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I very much doubt Labour are a working man’s party anymore. so that point it not valid.

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Many good points have been raised here, but the good points raised are clearly in favour of coal mining.

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Don’t let them fool you. This has NOTHING to do with the coal.It’s just an excuse to use the land for housing…just like the desecration of Lawley…old coal fields…like anyone would have noticed now. It’s been earmarked for over 400 houses on the Shortwoods site for years now. You have to ask yourself , if the coal wasn’t worth mining back in the seventies (privately owned then)…why is it suddenly worth big investments???

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An Anthem for a Doomed Short Wood
(and all respect to Joni Mitchell)

So they’ll pave paradise
And put up a parking lot.
Maybe a neat new housing estate,
Costing much more money than we’ve got.
And so they always seem to say,
That we don’t know what we’ve got
‘Til it’s gone
So we’ll pave paradise and put up a parking lot.

They’ll take all the trees
But they’ll give us a smart museum?
Then charge all the people
A pound or more just to see ‘em
But I’m sure it always seems to go,
That you don’t know what you’ve got
‘Til it’s gone
So we’ll pave paradise
And put up your parking lot

Now, hey there farmer keep breathin’
In your clean, clean air now,
Oh, but you don’t live round here so I s’pose
You don’t really care though.
And so it really seems to go,
That we won’t know what we’ve got til it’s gone,
Just pave paradise and put up your parking lot.

And, yes we’ll get some nice big trucks
Going down our busy main roads now,
Or maybe, a lovely new golf course
That’s not all that I’m told now.
But hey, does it always have to go
…(chorus)

Maybe, soot on my washing?
And shaky ground under my feet now,
Grey clouds hover above me and
My apples don’t taste very sweet now.
But…yes you got it…(all join in now!)

So wave goodbye to the birds,
We will surely miss their merry tune,
And the bees will go with them
And won’t be coming back very soon.
But, hey, we’ll always have a price to pay,
And we won’t wake up until it’s all gone.
So I’ll just have a moan today and
Our kids can play in the parking lot(chorus repeat…)

…yes a cliché…the words are mostly changed and the grammars’ all wrong…but still…dedicated to the ‘wish tree’ that still lives in Short Wood…AndromedaHeightz+

Ps. Thanks for listening+

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What do you think the UK’s industrial strategy should be to get our economy back on its feet and create sustainable jobs for the future, Richard?

What do you see as the best way to wean our economy off fossil fuel imports from other countries?

You say green energy is a ‘luxury’.

Greens disagree. We see it as an economic and ecological necessity.

We see massive government investment in a green industrial revolution as the best way of strengthening the UK’s manufacturing base and an important first step along the way to UK energy security.

Do you think it is a ‘luxury’ to imagine a possible future for our economy in 20-30 years’ time, where Britain is exporting high-tech green technologies to the rest of the world?

The Nobel Peace Prize committee 2009 said that Barack Obama’s desire ‘for all of us to take our share of responsibility for a global response to global challenges’ was the reason why he won this year’s prize.

That decision is going to inspire people like me across the world.

The difference with 10 years ago, though, is that people like me are not going to stay silent in future when poor decisions like this are pushed through.

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The solution is nuclear power. The USA, USSR, UK, France all have nuclear power stations with very little problems over the last 30 years. What we need to do in this country is build 10 new nuclear power stations in the Uk to supply our country with energy.

This way we will no longer have to dig up beauty spots to obtain coal.

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Yes Huw I have been to a talk on Transition Towns in Birmingham, The idea has many merits. I think peak oil is something that is not discussed enough in the mainstream media. One of the most important lessons i took from attending various climate camps was that the currant economic system can not be maintained if we are to tackle climate change seriously.
From living in the climate camp, organizing and making decisions with anarchist values or horizontal consensus decision making seemed to be the most ethical way forward to me!
If we are to realistically address the issue then capitalism, markets and endless growth are no longer sustainable ways to collectively organize a society. The recent financial crisis has shown the weakness of capitalism and how it tramples over most of the population of the planet in search of profit, regardless of the impact to the environment. Wrekin Stop War group plan a meeting this Tuesday to talk about recent issues. For more information please contact us through the web site.Huw It would be good to see you there.

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Some high-minded stuff here, but note the fact that the T & W Council over many months failed to make a decision on UK Coal’s planning application thereby shirking its responsibility to local people and ensuring that the inevitable decision that the mine would be given the go-ahead by Sec of State.

Yet now Eade states this is a ‘crass decison’ and that the Council is considering a legal challenge. What a joke.

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I am sure Huw Peach would be protesting if instead of coal extraction taking place around Telford a Nuclear power station was proposed for Ironbridge Gorge or if several hundred 135 metre tall wind turbines were proposed.
Some people may want to live in a tented commune “at one with nature” but most of us want the use of energy for homes, hospitals, etc that are heavy users of energy with 61 million of us and growing.
Why do the anti energy use, anti roads, etc believers stay in the UK when they would be without all these in somewhere like Chad in Africa.

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Keith, you said: Some people may want to live in a tented commune “at one with nature”

I had a similar experience camping in the car park by Loch Lomond (wild camping is permitted in Scotland). I was with two Glaswegian pals and we were ‘at one with nature’, but there were alot of other people there who were drunk, using foul language, playing loud music and generally uncouthed.

Therefore I would urge anyone thinking of living in a tented commune by the ‘Bonney Bonney Banks’ or elsewhere to think again.

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Those Greenies on Parliament’s roof, who are far braver than you or I, Lucy W, were calling for a new style of politics in Britain, one capable of rising to meet the challenge of climate change.

To see what sort of people they are and hear why these ordinary individuals chose to protest in this way, have a look at the 2-minute video on the Greenpeace website.

There were over 50 people protesting from all walks of life, nationalities, and aged from early 20s to over 70.

They felt compelled to take action and risk arrest and a criminal record because they feel that time is running out and our politicians are not matching their green rhetoric with action.

Here is a local example of why direct action like this is now necessary:

In September 2009 Secretary of State, John Denham, writes in the Independent that central government can ‘lead on climate change’.

In October 2009 Secretary of State, John Denham, pushes through an unpopular open-cast mine of the dirtiest fossil fuel, which emits 1153 grammes of carbon dioxide per kilowatt hour.

(Wind, by contrast, emits 24 grammes)

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Huw Peach said “Those Greenies on Parliament’s roof, who are far braver than you or I”

Was looking at my family geneology, looking at my grandfathers Demobilisation card. He volunteered in 1915 when he was 16 years old and was dicharged 1919. A quick cross reference to his Birth Cert shows the 2 year discrepancy.

No that is bravery Huw, not climbing on roof with a ladder.

As for nucleur waste, may I suggest you visit the Sellafield recycling plant’s visitor centre and you might learn something. There are none so blind as those who will not see.

Huw also said “Which human institution do you know of which has lasted over a thousand years? ” The British Monarchy?

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Huw, a criminal record is no big deal, I’ve got one and it hasn’t held me back.

Which international institution has lasted over a thousand years? Catholic Church?

Huw lets see if you can answer a question for once – it will be a first for the Shrops Star threads!
Q: If I drive 20,000 miles with a car emission of 261g/mile CO2 emmission, how many trees do I need to carbon off-set this?

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No answer, so no response.

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