The Campaign to Protect Pont Valley was visited by three special guests from Colombia this week. We hosted Misael, an indigenous leader, Rosa and activist lawyer and Aldo the president of the national coal workers union. We had events in Dipton, Durham Miners Association and Newcastle.
Luis Misael Socorras is a Way’uu indgenous community leader from La Guajira, north east Colombia. Since the 1980’s his village has had to coexist with coal trains rumbling by 24 hours a day, spilling coal dust and noise in to their lungs and dreams. He has seen how the Cerrejón opencast coal mine has ‘invaded’ more and more land since it arrived in 1983, displacing 35 villages in the process. As well as visiting us, he and the others will also be participating in the BGP Biliton AGM in London. BHP are one of the multinationals that owns Cerrejón mine, along with Glencore and Anglo American.
On a grey crisp monday morning in Dipton, wellington boots and extra layers were shared around and we set off from High Stables to walk to the mine. And then we arrived. Because the mine is a mere 295m from peoples home. Our Colombian guests Misael and Aldo, were visibly shocked at how close the opencast was to peoples home. ‘In Colombia, I have never seen a mine so close to peoples homes’ said Misael. They were both very concerned by the impact that blasting will have for local residents homes. Aldo explained ‘At the moment they are going through the soft layer but to get deeper down they are going to have use dynamite. And this mines is too close to peoples homes for this to be safe. Only the mine companies know what their expansion plans are, and if they expand any further you will be forced to move’.
Cerrejón opened one year before the miners strike of 84-85. It was cheap coal from Colombia that enabled Thatcher to break the coal workers union. In the afternoon we met with Durham Miners Association to talk about this historical connection. Ross Forbes, of DMA was keen to know how Sintracarbon had organised as a union and what they had achieved.
Aldo explained that through ongoing struggle, high levels of unionisation and education his union has had many wins through collective agreements with the company; their children’s university fees are paid for by Cerrejón, their salary rises above inflation, and now every two years, Cerrejón has to transfer 200 fixed or temporary contracts over to permanent contracts.
Ross said ‘This is very impressive for a union that is only 30 years old. In the first thirty years of the UK coal miners union in the UK it was very slow with workers educating themselves.’ He asked how communities and workers fight together?
Aldo said ‘ When we were a new union we just focused on workers rights. As we matured we began to listen more to the communities, to learn what was happening to them and now we are committed to defending workers and communities. We made mistakes before. But now we only want mining which does not harm communities or the environment. It is true that when we speak out against the company in defence of communities, Cerrejón’s attitude towards us as a union changes, but we are not going to let that stop us saying what is true. At the evening event in Newcastle, Aldo added that it is important to note that the communities also support the union.
Misael repeatedly spoke about his concern for the people of Meadomsley and Dipton. At the Newcastle event he said “The mine in Dipton that we saw this morning is just the beginning. It is going to keep growing and as it does it is going to mean that you are going to be forced to leave your homes. But it is not too late for you to stop this happening. You must keep fighting.”
This is what he has had to witness in his homeland, La Guajira. Cerrejón one of the largest opencast mines in the country began like this too. “If we had had organisations like yours, when Cerrejón arrived in the 1980s they would not have been able to opencast in La Guajira. But they tricked and lied to us. They have not fulfilled any of the promises they made to us. Instead they have violently evicted people from their homes and contaminated our water. ”
La Guajira is a semi arid region with one river – the Rancheria river. The union and communities formed a defence committee and with national and international support have managed to date to stop Cerrejón from diverting the river. Under the river is 500 million tonnes of coal. So now the company is trying to starve the river, by diverting its tributaries. The current struggle is to protect the Bruno tributary river and the dry tropical forest in its catchment area. Rosa Maria is part of a lawyers collective who works alongside communities trying to stop the expanision of the mine.
Misael spoke repeatedly about the cultural and spiritual pollution in their territory. This stood out for Suzie Leigh from Dipton, County Durham. She said ‘It made total sense but it wasn’t something I had thought about before. I wonder how it affects those of us living in this area.”
These are just a few flavours of what was an incredible day, full of much rich exchange. Many others will have their own story to tell of the day and we hope this is just the beginning of collaboration and solidarity between us all, with the support of London Mining Network.
Julia Triston of High Stables, Dipton to end said “Rosa Maria and myself were really struck by the universal similarities of our situation. We all have the same questions and concerns and anger whatever our ethnicity, location, language, gender, beliefs. I get angry at the need for so called ‘experts in our struggles If you add up all the years everyone has of living in the valley, this is what counts as really knowing the valley. This is the same experience as the people in Colombian villages. Making these personal connections has been so important for me. Those stories. Us people. Solidarity. ”
Waka is gone. It doesn’t feel real to say that, but someone who lived with us through snow and heat waves in the Pont Valley has been killed in Kurdistan, fighting against ISIS.
Waka was an otherworldly being. Like no-one I have ever met. A considered, passionate, genuine soul. He dismantled gender, built structures and alliances and really thought things through, then acted to create change in the world. He loved the natural environment, preferring it to cities and their noise. He was selfless and determined, his trip to Kurdistan representing the epitome of this. There he fought for a real democracy which places gender equality and ecological consideration at its heart. He was there to protect people as he protected our valley and the Hambacher forest in Germany.
Mainstream media will try to put him into boxes and categories, but he didn’t fit him. He would stay up half the night building the tallest workshop, take time to consider how we approach the nearby primary schools, participate in actions with unique wit and intelligence, engage in meetings and socialising with care, consideration and ceremony. To us he was family and as a family we will grieve this together.
It is hard to believe we won’t meet him again at a site of ecological and human struggle. In fact I’m not ready yet to believe that is the case. However, I know that those he met, he really touched. We are all the more rich for having spent time with this marvellous person and for having had a glimpse into his world, to incorporate that a little in how we move forward.
If you question why he was there, it was simple. In the words of Berta Caceres, a Honduran environmental activist and indigenous leader, assassinated in 2016, “We must undertake the struggle in all parts of the world, wherever we may be, because we have no other spare or replacement planet. We have only this one, and we have to take action.”
He travelled to various countries and continents, and touched many people. You may think he is dead, but for us he leaves seeds of a different way of being – wherever he went and with all he met.
Waka, we will remember you most fondly, your fight lives on.
Statement from the YPG
“Şehîd Şahîn Qereçox, known as Waka to his many friends, was sadly martyred in the fight against Daesh in Hajin on 6th October. He had been serving in the YPG, fighting for the revolution in Rojava for 4 months. For as long as I’d known him he was a loving comrade and a true revolutionary. I’m still struggling to find the words to describe him – he was so thoughtful and creative he defied simple generalisation. Whatever I write will merely scratch the surface of what he meant to me and so many people.
I will never forget his brave actions and efforts fighting for a world he knew was possible. One free from oppression, patriarchy and ecocide where people live cooperatively in the spirit of mutual aid instead of being made atomised and afraid by capitalism. He was always willing to risk repression or police violence defending what he believed in. In Hambacher Forest, Germany, he never hesitated putting himself in harm’s way to stop the exploitation and destruction of the earth. In Pont Valley, England, his creativity and hard work put fire in a campaign to defend communities and wildlife from opencast coal mining. Şahîn’s resourcefulness made him a valuable member of every community he was in. He was often hard at work building structures, cooking and just making the whole space more welcoming for everyone to enjoy themselves. He always brought his charming wit to every conversation and you could learn a lot from what he had to say.
His temperament was never aggressive, nor was he keen on physical confrontation and initially it was a surprise to hear he wanted to fight with the YPG. But actually, thinking about his many other brave exploits, it shouldn’t at all have been a surprise that he would fight for what he believed in this way. His unwavering courage and self-discipline without falling into macho behaviours is one of the many things for which I admired him.
This was one of the things that made him a true revolutionary – he knew a revolution isn’t just something you make or build, it’s something you do and it’s a part of who you are. Everything he did was very consciously and unapologetically political. He never shied away from criticising his own behaviour or that of his comrades. He wanted to make the most of every day of his life and any spare moment was spent learning a language, training, reading and sharing new ideas. A week or so before he died he was made co-commander of the YPG International Tabur and he was steadfastedly motivated in training not only everyone’s physical condition, but also building the revolutionary culture in the unit.
One treasured memory I have of him before he came to Rojava was when we were hitchhiking together in Europe. I remember no matter who gave us a lift he would immediately engage with them in conversation as if they were an old friend. He was always keen to talk about his ideas and never felt the need to be dishonest about his beliefs. His disarming friendliness and honesty left everyone we encountered on that journey fond of him, even if they had met him all too briefly.
I would like to send this message in memory of a true heval. A land defender, hunt saboteur, anarchist, expert hitchhiker & dumpster diver, revolutionary, friend, and a beautiful comrade. I only regret I didn’t tell him all this to his face, but the fight for freedom goes on and I will do so in his memory, inspired by everything he did and everything he taught me.”
We did it, Nant Llesg has been saved from the ravages of opencast coal mining! This piece of land which above the villages of Rhymney, Fochriw, Bedlinog, Pontlottyn. Deri, Abertwsswg will not be blown into pieces to be tossed up into the wind and end up down to the valley, inhaled or to turn the landscape black once more. The Rhas Las pond will not be capped, the HGVs on the road to the Ffos-y-fran rail head terminal will not increase. This is an incredible result.
United Valley’s Action Group have won a hard fought five year battle. Their perseverance is commendable and their foe was once mighty.
On the 19th September 2018 the Welsh Government confirmed that the opencast would not go ahead, as the coal company failed to provide necessary documents to the appeal. Members of this community group have stayed up all night reading every legal document submitted and formed responses; demonstrated to the council and against Miller Argent; lost dear friends along the way; occupied the opencast along with Reclaim the Power and told everyone who will listen of the ills of opencasting.
Miller Argent’s 2015 opencast plans for Nant Llesg were unanimously rejected, by the council. The coal company then appealed, but wanted to change some of the details of the opencast and the appeal languished in uncertainty. Local people wanted a decision. Meanwhile Aberthaw power station, near Barry, stopped burning Welsh coal. The power station had been the main consumer of Ffos-y-fran’s coal and was expected to be the same for Nant Llesg. This made the viability of an opencast at Nant Llesg look less clear.
Coal Action Network’s response, to the amazing news that Nant Llesg was saved, has been slow. We found out on the same day that activist Steffen Horst Meyn died in the Hambacher forest occupation. This does not stop the protection of Nant Llesg being a significant victory, but does show that we fight against an international problem which sometimes has the most severe consequences.
Well done to all those who fought and won, keeping the coal in the ground!
Coal Action Network has been wanting to write about the death in the Hambacher Forest of activist Steffen Horst Meyn. We haven’t been able to, so will republish the media release from Hambi Bleibt.
In solidarity and love with all those who have lost their lives fighting for a better world.
“On Wednesday afternoon (20/09/18) about 3:45 pm, the movement journalist, blogger and activist Steffen Horst Meyn, died in the tree house village Beechtown in Hambach Forest. He crashed while attempting to document an ongoing eviction action by the Special Task Force of Police (SEK), from a suspension bridge from about 20 m height. Rescue workers on the ground tried to resuscitate him. According to our information, however, he died a little later, still in the forest, in a rescue helicopter.
We are shocked and stunned by this tragic event. We deeply sympathize with the family and friends of the deceased and hope that they will get the privacy and peace they most likely need in their situation. For many of us, too, he was a friend whose loss we do not really understand. Especially the people in Beechtown who, after weeks of stress due to the eviction, now had to be present at this terrible accident, we wish a lot of strength and peace.
After all the information that we at the press office of Hambach Forest have been able to gather so far, it is clearly a tragic accident.
It would have been a worthy handling in our eyes if all sides would keep a low profile for the time being. On this day, in a reaction of the Interior Ministry and the police, the voluntary exit of tree houses was required. In this situation we consider that as an absolutely inappropriate strategic use of the death.
In the communication about the occupation, and now also about the accident, the government of North Rhine-Westphalia and the police also fall back upon false reports. Actually, we would have wished we had not yet to speak on a political level about the accident. Unfortunately, after the spread of untruths and the disrespectful attempt to instrumentalise Steffen’s tragic death, we now see ourselves forced to make a few corrections.
1. At the time of the accident, police and evacuation forces were deployed on spot in Beechtown. We are linking here corresponding footage and photo material. (Trigger warning: https://bit.ly/2xyVOy5) It is incomprehensible to us how the police can claim the opposite.
2. In six years of almost uninterrupted tree house occupancy, this is the first and only comparable case. For six and a half years, the treetops were inhabited, people climbed daily up and down and moved between the trees without a comparable case having occurred so far. That the state of North Rhine-Westphalia, the police and RWE are now trying to exploit this tragic accident in order to justify the alleged necessity of this violent eviction, we consider unworthy and a mockery of those affected.
3. The question that accompanies us all these days is the question of ‘why?’. For weeks, the Hambach Forest has been besieged in order to get to the underlying lignite. It is no coincidence, in our view, that this first fatal accident in the history of occupations took place right now, during the eviction.
Everyone in the occupations stood for several weeks under constant stress because of an eviction campaign, which was beaten through at an insane pace. Constant noise from expulsion and clearing, day and night floodlights and flashing blue lights, massive police presence on the ground, sonication with barking dogs and recordings of chainsaw noises, as well as the news about the repeatedly life-threatening approach of the task forces, leave physical and mental traces in all involved. Insomnia, stress and over-stimulation are poisonous for the attention and tranquility essential for safe tree climbing.
According to our information, there is no direct connection with the acute local police action at the time of the accident. But we know first-hand that the deceased only climbed into the trees because he was permanently prevented by the police from doing his press work on the ground.
“ After the press was often restricted in their work during the last few days in the Hambach Forest, I am now 25m up on Beechtown to document the evacuation work. There is no barrier tape up here.” (https://bit.ly/2MPh6NB)
Also the government of the federal state of North Rhine-Westphalia, the police and RWE should also take a deep breath these days and reflect. The attempt to blame alleged safety deficiencies in the constructions is a transparent strategy in this situation and absolutely inappropriate.
What we need now is peace for the necessary mourning. It is not enough to suspend the concrete expulsions until further notice. The night after the accident, Beechtown was still lit with a floodlight system and sonicated with barking dogs. The forest is still full of police forces that we only experienced as aggressors in recent weeks and years. The lifting platforms, eviction tanks, water cannons and chainsaws are still in the forest and waiting for their use. This is not a considerate pause.
What is needed now is an immediate withdrawal of the police units and a stop to the expulsions and felling. The forest and the people need rest to handle this accident. In addition, the police should fundamentally reconsider their deployment strategy and the manic pace of eviction.
There have been too many incidents in recent weeks that have put the health and lives of activists at risk. The freedom of the press was massively restricted during the whole mission. Safety-relevant material such as climbing ropes, climbing harnesses and fire extinguishers were systematically seized or destroyed in large quantities. And of the people in the trees was expected a mental, emotional and physical burden by this massive presence, which is not reasonable for safe climbing nor for the processing of a death.
All this has to stop. Therefore, we demand an immediate total calling off of the operation and the release of all prisoners.
Mr. Weinspach and Mr. Reul: Let us grieve in peace.”
On Monday, all five defendants were acquitted of aggravated trespass for actions intended to delay and stop Banks Group accessing land to start an opencast coal mine in the Pont Valley, Durham.
The five were in various positions including locking on to arm tubes submerged in concrete, up a tripod and lying in tunnels on the 19th and 20th April 2018. The actions were taken to stop work at the Bradley opencast in the Pont Valley Durham due to concerns over Great Crested Newt habitat, damage to the local area and climate change.
A sixth defendant was found not guilty of aggravated trespass following an attempt to stop machinery digging on the land early in May. Two defendants had their cases dropped as it was unclear how the pair could be obstructing a highway whilst in a tree!
District Judge, Ms Cousins, gave the verdict following a three and a half day trial. She said that she cannot be convinced that Banks Mining Group was not destroying or about to destroy the habitat of the Great Crested Newts.
An endangered great crested newt was caught by protestors in a pitfall trap on the 17th April 2018. Two days late the mining company came to evict the camp which had been in place since late February. The Judge accepted that a great crested newt was found on site by the protestors and that the protestors did not know an eviction was about to take place. The case showed that the ecologist employed by Banks had not used the appropriate methodology to confirm the absence of protected species, such as the pitfall traps used by protestors, hence the acquittal.
Jessica Sankey, a protestor who appeared in Court today said: “This is a victory. It proved that Banks had not taken the appropriate measures to protect the ecology of the site. However, it is bitter sweet. Brooms pond has already been destroyed and the fact that Banks are still extracting coal will only serve to further the destruction of delicate habitats and accelerate global climate change.”
Sarah Johnson, another defendant said; “Today, the legal system has deemed our actions to be legitimate as these species are protected by law. Now we need laws to safeguard ecosystems and the planet from damaging fossil fuel extraction and combustion. The struggle is far from over. Fossil fuel companies need to be held accountable for their profit driven activities that that are directly responsible for climate breakdown. All fossil fuels need to be kept in the ground if we have any hope in minimising the effects of climate change.”
As we march in the Durham Miners Gala behind our new banner, we stand in solidarity with working class people fighting against state oppression in search of a better life for our communities.
Durham Miners’ Association support our campaign against new opencast in the Pont Valley.
“The Durham Miners’ Association has opposed opencast mining for many decades and support the locally lead campaign to protect Pont Valley in Co. Durham.
It damaged deep mining in the past and now threatens to ruin our environment for no perceivable benefit.
Our communities have suffered enough with the decline of the coal industry and they do not need to have more injury added to insult.
There are deep mining projects reopening in various parts of England. So, there is little need to rip up the countryside.”
Alan Cummings, Durham Miners Association Secretary, May 2018.
Diversity in the ecological sense is treasured. On a global scale conservationists focus a lot of their time and resources on the protection of the most diverse ecosystems if we are talking land the most diverse area is a tropical rainforest and a fuss is made about deforestation.
Conservationists are actually right to make a fuss in this case and it is right that they focus on the most diverse habit because in campaigning for the protection of the most diverse habitat you protect greatest number of species; you could campaign to save a desert and they need saving, but a square kilometre of desert my only contain a few species and square kilometres of a diverse habitat will contain thousands possibly tens of thousands of different species.
Ponds really are forgotten havens of biodiversity. Hedgerows got a bit of publicity a few years back, people have camped in trees to save them from road expansion but to my knowledge, until the Pont valley protection campers arrived – in the depths of the coldest North east winter for decades – there has never been such a visible Save Our Ponds campaign. The Great Crested Newt has been adopted as the symbol of the campaign to conserve the local habitat.
Police collude with Banks to destroy the newt habitat
Over a long time, ponds in the Pont Valley have become more diverse because of the absence of human interference on the site. These ponds importantly are fishless ponds contain a wide variety of insect life including caddis fly and stonefly larve which are good indicators of the health and quality of any freshwater habitat. The ponds are also home to newts including the Great Crested but this scarcely seen amphibian is by no means sole reason that the site should be restored and saved now, before further damage is done. The newt is only part of a more complex web of interaction with many different species.
Banks Group have dug in the Brooms Pond
In the planning application for opencast UK Coal said that they would relocate several mature ponds to a location in the valley that does not lie over a coal seam. The plan for translocation was fundamentally flawed but this work would have conserved some of the diverse species present. It at least showed UK Coals willingness to take into consideration, the ecological sensitivity of the most diverse habitat on site. Instead of working around the ponds, or translocating the rare and protected newts, Banks group chose to excavate within the fenced off area of habitat as one of the very first actions on site. If immediate restoration from initial works is not conducted, recovery from this act of eco-vandalism will take decades. The gradual increase in biodiversity over time will need to start all over again.
Banks group obtained the planning permission from UK coal just before it was due to expire and have already proved that they have less concern for ecology than a company that were formerly UK’s single biggest fossil fuel producer.
During the controversial planning and appeals process, agreements were reached on a variety of issues such as traffic management, working hours, dust monitoring, traffic routes, restoration, a community fund and as well as conservation and translocation. Banks group in the short time since they obtained the permissions shown they are willing to ignore some of these agreements. This sort of behaviour is most concerning, as restoration after opencast in particular is a difficult and time-consuming process, if this surface mining project does continue Banks need to change their current trajectory if assurances made about habitat restoration are to be believed.
We are asking that you email James Brokenshire, the Secretary of State for Communities, Housing and Local Government and ask him to stop the Bradley opencast. A template letter is below.
The email address is james.brokenshire@communities.gsi.gov.uk please copy in jake.berry@communities.gsi.gov.uk, or you can write to Ministry of Housing Communities and Local Government, Fry Building, 2 Marsham Street, London, SW1P 4DF.
James Brokenshire has the legal authority to stop this mine. We have been told that he is currently reviewing the application.
He can only step in if the original decision was grossly incorrect. Please feel free to personalise the email by adding in your own reasons against the opencast or coal in general. Remember to put your name, full postal address including post code and date the letter.
Re. Bradley Opencast Coalmine, Land Adjacent to the A692 Road, known as Bradley, Near Leadgate, Consett, County Durham, DHS 7SL
I am writing to you to request that your department urgently intervenes to stop Banks Group from opencast coal mining at the Bradley, in County Durham.
I understand that you can intervene in developments where the original decision to grant planning permission was grossly wrong and the development is likely to damage the wider public interest, as is laid out in the Town and Country Planning Act 1990, under section 100 and 102.
Climate change is a real threat to our everyday lives. Earlier this year your government laid out its methods to phase-out coal by the end of 2025. Due to this and other government policies your predecessor chose to reject an application to opencast 3 million tonnes of coal from Northumberland at Highthorn. It is consistent with this ruling that planning permission at Bradley is now overturned.
The effects of the proposed mine on climate change were not adequately considered at the planning appeal which led to the approval of the Bradley mine. In the Highthorn decision it was deemed that approval would be inconsistent with the Written Ministerial Statement on the Central Government’s
commitment to replace coal-fired power stations as made by the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change on 18 November 2015.
When planning permission was granted, it was said that “the projected supply of coal should be taken to represent a national benefit carrying great weight.” (Inspector’s Decision para. 91.) In 2015 coal supplied 22% of the UK’s energy, since then dependency on coal has decreased to 6.2% in the last year. (http://www.mygridgb.co.uk/last-12-months/) This shows that the national benefit of this coal was significantly over valued.
The UK Government, along with the Canadian Government, launched the Global Powering Past Coal Alliance in November 2017.The Alliance’s Declaration notes that:
”The health effects of air pollution from burning coal, including respiratory diseases and premature deaths, impose massive costs in both human and economic terms. Recent analysis has found that more than 800,000 people die each year around the world from the pollution generated by burning coal.
As a result, phasing out traditional coal power is one of the most important steps governments can take to tackle climate change and meet our commitment to keep global temperature increase well below 2°C, and to pursue efforts to limit it to 1.5°C.”
Opencast coal mining also contributes to air borne particulates and as such an increase would cause health problems for those living in the nearest houses to the Bradley site, some lie within 300m of the boundary. In the UK’s current drive to improve air quality it is vital to stop this opencast.
There is significant national interest in stopping this development from proceeding. Intervention is required urgently as the area is being stripped, dust and noise pollution are increasing, biodiversity has been lost and local people are strongly against this application.
I look forward to your response.
SIGNATURE/ NAME
*** ONLINE PROTECTORS, WE NEED YOU NOW ***
Rainton and Tynedale Roadstones, part of MGL Group, are in the process of tarmacking the access road for the opencast site.
Although Banks Group have contracted the MGL Group it is unlikely that they are fully aware of the nature of the site and the public feeling around it. Once companies realize what they are involved in they often choose to withdraw.
For this reason, we need you to contact MGL Group and ask them to stop working for Banks Group. If you have used MGL Group (Rainton or Tynedale Roadstone) yourself or were planning to use them, this is powerful and worth mentioning.
We’d suggest keeping it polite and friendly as they may not be aware of what kind of project they are taking part in or how people feel about it.
If they respond to you, please let us know on Facebook or by emailing protectpontvalley@gmail.com.
Call them on – 0191 267 3014 / 0191 383 9900
Email them on – enquiries@mglgroup.co.uk
Twitter – https://twitter.com/TheMGLGroup
Here’s an email template you can use as a guide when contacting them – if you have time please adapt it to make it more personal.
——-
Dear []
It has come to my attention that your company is involved as a supplier to Banks Group opencast site in Pont Valley, County Durham. I would like to bring it to your attention that your company is supplying a controversial company involved in a highly disputed project of open cast coal mining in 2018.
Banks Group have already been in their preparatory work in breach of several environmental and planning conditions. First, they have ignored evidence that shows the existence of a population of endangered and protected species, the great crested newt, therefore committing a wildlife crime by destroying their habitat. Second, on Friday 18th May Banks Group claimed to have triggered their planning permission despite not yet completing the building of an access road, which was an agreed condition to ensure the safety of road users and pedestrians.
This shows Banks Group to be an irresponsible and unprincipled company, but furthermore, their intention to opencast mine Pont Valley will have huge repercussions. It will tear up the landscape and destroy the rare and diverse ecology of flora and fauna found in Pont Valley. The release of dust and diesel fumes will also have huge impacts on the health of the local community. For these reasons, Durham Council rejected plans for this opencast three times alongside a thirty year locally-led campaign, which now has the support of the Durham’s Miners Association. Moreover, in the face of climate change, we need to keep coal in the ground as it is a hugely polluting fossil fuel that even our government has committed to phasing out by 2025.
I can assure you that this company does not have the support of the local community and is also strongly opposed nationally. With consideration to a world-wide view of moving towards green energy; I am sure you can understand why the actions of this company are so controversial. I would therefore respectfully ask you to reconsider your involvement with Banks Group and any other company that does not follow a positive environmental ethos.
There are many companies each day choosing to pull out of supplying such projects and I ask if you would find the courage and self- respect to follow their lead. There are times when we as individuals and as group participants need to make a stand and put the greater good before profit.
Yours Faithfully,
Tracy Gillman, a local resident and campaigner, put together this potted history of the 30 year community struggle against opencast at Pont Valley (near Dipton and Leadgate in County Durham).
The local community have been fighting applications on this site for 50 years. The first application was approved but overturned by the then Secretary of State. UK Coal’s first application was rejected by planners in 1986. In 2001 a second application was rejected. During this period the UK was far more dependent on coal than it is now.
This application was unanimously rejected in February 2011. The Councillors for Durham Council called UK Coal “thugs,” “vandals” and said they were trying to bribe them with their promises of sorting the local roads. In Autumn 2011 there was a three-week appeal which UK Coal lost. The coal company took this to the High Court in London who said that the decision was perverse and ordered another appeal.
The second appeal happened in Autumn 2014 and lasted three weeks. Both appeals were well attended by local people, tens of whom spoke out against the mine with incredible passion, dedication and knowledge.
The Coal Action Network have been working with local residents against this mine since 2009, including giving evidence at the planning appeals.
The Campaign to Protect Pont Valley continues to protest the proposed open-casting of Pont Valley which is designated an Area of High Landscape Value. Banks Mining Group working with a security firm – Steadfast Security – continue to, by turns, harass and ignore the local community.
The concerns of the local community regarding planning permissions irregularities have been continually rebuffed and ignored by Durham County Council; including inadequate dust monitoring, the re-direction of public footpaths, lack of adequate and preparatory wildlife mitigation – constituting significant wildlife crimes which have been reported to Durham Constabulary but not investigated, and the concurrent winning and gaining of coal before an access road is completed in contravention of Section 106 of the planning conditions.
4 Things you can do
1) We need anyone who lives in County Durham to contact their local councillor to complain about the breaches of planning. It doesn’t matter which ward you live in; all County Durham councillors should be concerned about breaches of planning as it sets a precedent.
Find your County Durham councillor here
Things to include are:
Breaches of planning regarding dust monitoring – planning conditions stated that monitoring was supposed to start 12 months before works commenced and it hasn’t.
Breaches of plannning re; works related to mining were not authorised to start until the access road was completed. The access road has not been completed (This is important as mining works had to start by the 3rd of June to ensure that planning permission did not run out)
Nesting birds have been disturbed, both in the hedges and ground nesting birds, which is a wildlife crime.
The habitat of Great Crested Newts is partially destroyed, another wildlife crime.
2) Write to James Brokenshire, the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government about the issues above, particularly about the planning breaches. He has the power to revoke planning permission. He should reply within 15 working days.
james.brokenshire@communities.gsi.gov.uk (Do not use his MP address as it will be ignored)
3) Write to Laura Pidcock MP (for the local area). laura.pidcock.mp@parliament.uk
4) Complain to the Durham County Council Planning authority. The official form is here.
by three special guests from Colombia this week. We hosted Misael, an indigenous leader, Rosa and activist lawyer and Aldo the president of the national coal workers union. We had events in Dipton, Durham Miners Association and Newcastle.
g the tallest workshop, take time to consider how we approach the nearby primary schools, participate in actions with unique wit and intelligence, engage in meetings and socialising with care, consideration and ceremony. To us he was family and as a family we will grieve this together.
Statement from the YPG
hymney, Fochriw, Bedlinog, Pontlottyn. Deri, Abertwsswg will not be blown into pieces to be tossed up into the wind and end up down to the valley, inhaled or to turn the landscape black once more. The Rhas Las pond will not be capped, the HGVs on the road to the Ffos-y-fran rail head terminal will not increase. This is an incredible result.
ery legal document submitted and formed responses; demonstrated to the council and against Miller Argent; lost dear friends along the way; occupied the opencast along with Reclaim the Power and told everyone who will listen of the ills of opencasting.
UVAG were joined by 
Well done to all those who fought and won, keeping the coal in the ground!
Coal Action Network has been wanting to write about the death in the Hambacher Forest of activist Steffen Horst Meyn. We haven’t been able to, so will republish the media release from Hambi Bleibt.
After all the information that we at the press office of Hambach Forest have been able to gather so far, it is clearly a tragic accident.
Everyone in the occupations stood for several weeks under constant stress because of an eviction campaign, which was beaten through at an insane pace. Constant noise from expulsion and clearing, day and night floodlights and flashing blue lights, massive police presence on the ground, sonication with barking dogs and recordings of chainsaw noises, as well as the news about the repeatedly life-threatening approach of the task forces, leave physical and mental traces in all involved. Insomnia, stress and over-stimulation are poisonous for the attention and tranquility essential for safe tree climbing.
the people need rest to handle this accident. In addition, the police should fundamentally reconsider their deployment strategy and the manic pace of eviction.
District Judge, Ms Cousins, gave the verdict following a three and a half day trial. She said that she cannot be convinced that Banks Mining Group was not destroying or about to destroy the habitat of the Great Crested Newts.
by law. Now we need laws to safeguard ecosystems and the planet from damaging fossil fuel extraction and combustion. The struggle is far from over. Fossil fuel companies need to be held accountable for their profit driven activities that that are directly responsible for climate breakdown. All fossil fuels need to be kept in the ground if we have any hope in minimising the effects of climate change.”
