TWO pensioners will embark on a 20- mile trek to urge council chiefs to finally reach a decision on a long-delayed application to mine coal in the North West Leicestershire countryside.
Bob Walsh and Phil Owen, from Measham, will walk from the village to Leicester to present a petition to Leicestershire County Council over UK Coal’s plans for an opencast mine on the Minorca site, off Gallows Lane – a decision on which has been postponed six times in the past year.
The petition, bearing the names of more than 250 residents, will be presented to the council’s development control and regulatory board at its next meeting on Thursday, June 17, urging the board to rule on the Minorca application at its July meeting.
Mr Walsh, chairman of the Minorca Opencast Protest Group (MOPG), which is fighting the scheme, told the Mail: “We just wanted to do this as a way of bringing more attention to the situation.
“We as residents have been living under a cloud and under the threat of this application for well over a year now and there just doesn’t seem to be any resolution on it.
“This is having a detrimental effect on the value of our properties and on our way of life.” Mr Owen said: “Local people feel strongly about the length of time they have had to wait for a decision on this issue. By next month, we will have been waiting for over a year – that is long enough. Our lives have been blighted.
How much longer does UK Coal need to complete its planning application?” The pair will set off at 7am from Swepstone Church, which overlooks part of the proposed opencast site, arriving at County Hall, in Leicester, at around 1pm, and are encouraging others to join them along all or part of the route.
Anyone interested in taking part is asked to telephone Terry Morrell on 07988697554.
Meanwhile, North West Leicestershire MP Andrew Bridgen briefly mentioned the Minorca application in his maiden speech to the House of Commons, telling the house how he fought against the scheme with his predecessor, the late David Taylor MP.
UK Coal’s plan to mine 1.75 million tonnes of coal and 250,00 tonnes of fireclay has been formally opposed by North West Leicestershire District Council and Measham, Snarestone and Swepstone with Newton Burgoland parish councils.
