Wrekin mine fight stepped up

Wellington Civic Society today declared war on UK Coal over plans for a huge opencast mining project in the shadow of The Wrekin, claiming it would be "corporate vandalism".It also says it would blight some of Shropshire's most precious countryside.

The controversy is over a planning application to mine 900,000 tonnes of material at Huntington and New Works.

UK Coal says 40 jobs would be created directly by the scheme, which would also support 50 jobs.

The land has been mined previously and the company says working it again, then repairing the ground properly, would improve the site.

The civic society today joined mounting opposition by writing a letter of objection to Telford & Wrekin Council.

The letter, by society president George Evans, a local author and historian, says mining would harm the ancient woodlands of Black Hayes, Birch Coppice, Short Wood and Limekiln Wood, all important parts of The Wrekin Forest.

"The area proposed for destruction is beautiful forest land with magnificent bluebell woods, bat colonies, ancient gnarled oaks and all the wildlife you could wish for," Mr Evans says. "This cannot be replaced within a century.

"This area is vital to Telford, to provide the 'lungs' of the new town, to protect wildlife and to provide people with a place of peace and serenity much needed in the modern world.

"It is as important to us as the rain forests. Its destruction would be a massive piece of corporate vandalism."

Mr Evans says the area's industrial and agricultural activity is much greater, more diverse and longer term than in the Ironbridge Gorge World Heritage Site.

And he says digging up the woods would upset the balance of nature.

"Opencast mining has been proved to adversely affect health, causing asthma and other lung diseases along with the misery of noise pollution and traffic congestion," he says.

"To permit this development is to blight the future for us all, to deprive us and our children of our rights to roam in the peaceful forest as well as to destroy animal and vegetable wildlife."