04 June 2010

Paul Murphy writes opposing Opencast at Varteg

Torfaen MP Paul Murphy has written to Torfaen Council, clearly setting out his resons for opposing the opencast application at Varteg.

The full text of the letter, along with Mr Murphy's letter on the same issue sent in September 2009, is as follows:

Duncan Smith
Chief Planning and Public Protection Officer
Torfaen County Borough Council
Civic centre
Pontypool
Torfaen
NP4 6YB


24th March 2010

Dear Duncan,

re. planning application for coal recovery at Varteg

I write following up my previous letter of 16th September 2009, a copy of which is attached, regarding the application for opencast mining at Varteg.

I know that the report is due to go to full Council in April, and so I have copied all Councillors into this letter, updating and reaffirming my opinions on the matter. Thank you for your openness and your willingness to speak with me and my constituents in a balanced and informative way about the application.

In my opinion, the £1 per tonne offer from Glamorgan Power does not change the fact that this application would be, on balance, detrimental to our area.

Assembly Government policy appears to me to be clear, in that there should be a 500 metre ‘buffer zone’ between opencast mining and settlements, except in ‘exceptional’ circumstances.

With this particular application, there are over 100 houses within that 500 metre zone, including some as near as 50 metres, and a school 120 metres away educating children from as young as three years of age. Therefore, to balance out the effects of any opencast mining, the ‘exceptional circumstances’ would have to be very strong indeed.

I do not believe that such exceptional circumstances exist, so I remain opposed to the application. The application appears to involve insufficient overriding significance for the area - social, environmental or economic - to balance out the negative effects of the development, which I referred to in my previous letter.

The £1 per tonne offer seems to have been added on to the application at the last minute – it is not a well-thought through attempt to provide integral benefits to the community from the application. The lack of consultation by the applicants within the local community has been regrettable, and does not suggest a deep commitment to working together to offset the negative impact of operations, or indeed a determination to provide benefits to the area to offset those impacts.

I repeat that I am not in principle opposed to all opencast applications, as long as local people are given a real involvement in developments, extra community facilities are provided and the physical appearance and local environment will be improved in the longer term.

None of these factors appear to strongly apply in this case, and there is no real ‘exceptional circumstance’ to override the 500 metre rule. I would therefore repeat my view that I do not think it is in the best interests of our valley for this application to be approved.

Yours sincerely,

Paul Murphy MP

cc. Lynne Neagle AM
Jane Davidson AM
Torfaen County Borough Councillors
The Free Press



Previous letter on the issue - September 2009

Duncan Smith
Chief Planning and Public Protection Officer
Torfaen County Borough Council
Civic centre
Pontypool
Torfaen
NP4 6YB


16th September 2009


Dear Duncan,

re. planning application for coal recovery at Varteg

I write in connection with the above application, which I know will soon be considered by the Council.

I have received representations about this application and have had the opportunity to talk to a number of my constituents about its impact upon our community.

I am not, in principle, opposed to coal recovery operations, especially when they are short-lived, and when they lead to obvious environmental improvements. One such development was at the Garn-Yr-Erw lakes.

I am not so convinced about the merits of this particular application. I cannot see any great employment opportunities, nor can I imagine significant environmental benefits.

I am particularly concerned about the following issues.

1. The effect on the World Heritage Site of Blaenavon and the surrounding area – it seems to me that a nearby opencast site, and the inevitable lorry movements that come with it, would be incompatible with the World Heritage Site’s status, and could seriously jeopardise tourism potential in the valley.

2. The effect on traffic movements in the area. This was an issue in past applications, and is more so today, bearing in mind extra traffic use on the relevant roads. One such example would be the increase in bus activity. I also understand that a fresh application has been made to re-license the so-called Johnson’s mine, which would lead to even more lorries on our roads.

3. The effects on Blaenavon town centre – the town centre roads in the town would not easily cope with the increased flow of traffic. The main road would not be wide enough, and there may be detrimental structural effects on listed buildings.

4. The effect on the Welsh school in Varteg – which would be far too close to the opencast site.

5. The effect on the local atmosphere – sensible arguments have been made that the siting of the proposed opencast would lead to various forms of environmental pollution.

In summary, I do not think it is in the best interests of our valley for this application to be approved.

I am copying this letter to the Leader of the Council, the ward Councillors for Abersychan & Garndiffaith and Blaenavon wards, the Blaenavon Community Council and the Assembly Member for Torfaen.

Yours sincerely,

Paul Murphy

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