This is bloody stupid, dont give them demands to protect it, Give them demands to stop it all together, Why the hell would anyone want to ruin a perfectly good and beautiful piece of countryside thats also going to be used to harm the environment, Them people have absolutely no hearts its disgusting that they want to destroy one of the most eye catching beautiful views that we have here, People need to start taking action against idiots like this and quick!

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Hello All

I am an OZ bloke who has invested in UKC , I am helping UK investment and UK jobs.

Newcastle Australia and the Hunter Valley out here are beautiful places . Huge modern Coal mines are no eyesores or whatever . The Postal Codes up there report amoung the Highest Wage earners in Australia every year.

Coal Workers have families like us all

UK is a magic Place still. I come over every year. Love Glorious Goodwood. Be thankful that UK is still one of the best places on earth to live, A few hot showers are great in wintet to warm the Body and Soul Hence Coal/

Enjoy
Aussie Joe

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H. ST John Peasbody. Of course they should consider themselves lucky, increased risk of asthma, never able to hang out washing or go outside etc. It will greatly improve quality of life for them. A very valid and intelligent comment by yourself peasbody. Have you ever thought of being elected to government, a man with your foresight and ability would fit right in.

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Hello Again

I have been to Shropshire—- a truely beautiful and inspiring place , A bit like our beautiful Hunter Valley and Newcastle. Soon over there you will have well paid miners adding to the local economy. Coal mining brings Idustrial jobs, mechanics, electricians truck drivers etc to Rural Areas. One of the few remaining Industries to provide well paid industrial jobs to Rural Areas.

If you live in Shropshire you should doublely REJOICE>

Aussie Joe.

PS HMAS Shropshire was a Royal Australian Naval Cruiser out here in WW11 on loan from UK when we sadly lost HMAS Canverra in the Timor Sea.

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Aussie Joe, I see from #7, you were in WW11 (eleven)?

Very sorry we seem to have missed 9 world wars. It really not like British Tommy to miss out on the chance to give Johnny Foreigner a bloody nose.

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I didn’t “move there”; the opencast moved here. This started in WWII as an emergency measure, and it has never gone away since. My family has been here for generations; many worked in the deep mines. In common with the National Union of Mineworkers, the majority of people in this area are from similar backgrounds, and most despise opencast mining. After pit closures, it is the final insult.

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Joe Henshaw said “After pit closures, it is the final insult.”

Well make your mind up, do you want the pits open or closed?

Likewise I can trace my roots to mining in Shropshire. I am proud to say that in the 1800′s my Great Grandfather was born in a Shropshire Workhouse (his mother was an ‘inmate’) and his birth certificate records
‘father unknown’. He is then recorded a Shropshire miner on various censors.

However my family has come a long way since then and we stopped signing our name with an ‘X’ in the 1930′s

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To most people in the coalfields, a “pit” is a deep-mine. Pits are (or were) more sustainable, less environmentally damaging and major, long-term employers. Opencast (quarrying) is none of these. UK Coal seeks to replace (close) its deep-mine market share with more profitable opencast coal, and if possible, build on the sites. These are inevitably to the detriment of the same communities who lost viable pits to Thatcher, Heseltine and now UK Coal which has virtually wound up the remaining deep-mine industry. That is why it is the final insult. Jobs gone, communities gone, environment gone. Surely not a difficult concept to grasp?

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I agree with you Becky M, This list of demands should consist of one…Leave it in the ground.
Are the people who attended this meeting opposed to the mine on the issue of the wider environmental impact or just the impact on their nice village? Are they equally opposed to other open cast mines?
None of us are perfect, we all use fossil fuels to some extent but how do government expect to reduce emissions when they throw problems like this in our way. As for clean coal carbon capture and storage if it does work ? will be about 20 years to late, We will have past tipping points by then, If not already.
So Becky M what are we going to do about this problem?
Time for some people power maybe..?

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Hi Guys. Loved the chat.I just arose from slumber.

Tranquility is in the Mind. Not in the Geography. Your English pubs have kept you guys among the most sound people on the planet. Alas, now You sound less than happy.

My grandfather`s. grandfather was issued with a free ticket out here by your Old Bailey Tourist Advisory Service on his 14th birthday in 1814. For a Silver Watch not a loaf of bread too.The transcript said it was valued at 22 shillings.

In the long run, now I have an English Grandaughter born and living “over there” to a beautiful English Rose and of course my son who is a dual Citizen.

Guys as Earthlings we are all locals. Accept that and Tranquility will be assured, Have a look – it is a Globe in God`s Realm. A dot in our journey to understanding.

Now for a hot shower from my electric hot water system.

Come and have a beer with me in old London town in November and “enjoy”. Well done at cricket Ashes.
Tranquil aussie Joe

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Lucy W. the concept you are failing to grasp is that UK Coal’s opencast operations send the affected areas into both economic and environmental decline. An opencast mine doesn’t give the opportunity for social mobility; the reverse in fact. If you lived next to one, you would know that. The main targets are areas where communities are already in economic depression, and there are no local jobs on offer to disguise the bitter pill. That is why it remains the final insult. What about the few remaining pit communities and all the support industry jobs that will disappear if UK Coal can complete its desired transformation to opencast only? How “socially mobile” can they expect to be? You are talking ill-informed rubbish, apparently just for the sake of it. The only people who will be enjoying a higher standard of living are UK Coal’s directors. As for fuel poverty, if you knew anything about UK Coal, you would also know that it gains opencast permission on the basis of providing cheap indigenous coal, then immediately raises its prices in line with the international market. Furthermore, if we ever really need these reserves, they will be gone, and it will be fuel poverty for everyone except the ultra-rich, such as UK Coal’s directors who for years have used taxpayer handouts to sustain their disgracefully high salaries…

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Lucy W. following that comment,I don’t think I need to say much more; readers will make up their own minds.
However, you can add rude to “ill-informed”, and hurling the stereotypical (and baseless) “greenie” insult confirms not only your being out of your depth on the subject, but lacking the ability to understand the basic facts about the industry that have been presented to you.
As my views on opencast mining are the same as the National Union of Mineworkers, i.e. total opposition, presumably its members are “greenies” too?
And exactly which operational opencast site do you live next to? Oh, you don’t? And clearly you never have. Nuff said…

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G’day, Aussie Joe. Very valid point. These greenies don’t mind if the mine is somewhere else, like Russia.

I only got 1 Euro = £1, the otherday – used to get 1.5Euro, we desperately need to tap into our resources and revive our economy.

No doubt you have done well with the Aussie Dollar against the pound. I here the price of merino is up as well.

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Aussie Joe`s Finale. The Sand Man calleth.

However first To prove I am “Fair Dinkum” ====when I went to Shropshire I stayed several days at Ludlow. In the Cliffe Hotel down near the Weir. Fantastic. Terrific meals and Beer as only the Brits brew it. Fish jumping in the weir.

Fortuneately I went that far before I could not find a hotel vacancy even though I got there at lunchtime. Hey Guys non locals aren`t all that bad . Can`t you at least build a new 17th Century Pub or something. Where are you going to put all of The New World Tourists when we come over with our mineral dollars and motor car RMB`s and Brazilian whatevers. Even Russian Coalminers on hols with their Roubles from their coal exports.

Still a few grumbling Englanders somehow add nostalgia to the perhaps over Brash over here`s. My English grandaughter is in a good place still.

Cheers Oz Joe

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So I take it English Joe lives in an environmentally friendly modular building with solar panels and a windmill? Heats and cooks with wood?

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BIS figures which i just looked up show UK2005 Coal consumption at 62million tonnes and UK Production 20mln at $75 a tonne right now, so= $imports?.No UK coal is exported.
Commentary on coal sites suggest both figures have increased since but imports moreso.

Shropshire Council Site right now shows 290.000 population in Shropshire. Density 0.91 per hectare which is a quarter of the average for the UK which i presume still incledes England < Sc0tland , Wales. and Nth Ireland. If not there than where?

In Oz Mining is moving to opencast/cut partly because it employs less miners per tonnage and partly because it is signifcantly more safe for the miners.

With the world heading toward a 50% population increase soon all things are relative there will be no Brigadoons, Alas .

21st Century Joe ( from OZ)

I read this stuff because I need to follow my Investments in retirement.

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Norman Pitkin: Are you a Norman Wisdom Fan? Funny they showed ‘On the Beat’ not long ago. Please don’t tell us you have been rejected by the police and secretly aspire to be ‘Norman Pitkin’? (albeit the police would benefit from such a recruitment)

Do I get a prize for this?

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