It's approaching six months since camp was set up at Huntington Lane open cast coal mine site and as the 'anniversary' approaches things are beginning to speed up. With a lot of defensive work being carried out on site by protesters, UK Coal have been been making preparations of their own; it has been confirmed that an Environmental License will be issued by the end of the month to allow UK Coal to begin work, the mines water supply has been connected and farmers are being asked to remove their stock from the southern site. It has also been discovered that jobs at the mine site are being advertised/allocated and that local firm McPhilips will begin working on the site infrastructure very soon.

Time is fast running out before an eviction notice is served and the camp would like to issue a call out for people, tools, lock on gear of all kinds (padlocks,D-locks etc), water and food. If you're unable to offer any of these things but would like to support the camp, words of solidarity and support are also very gratefully received :)

OPEN CAST COAL IN THE SHADOW OF THE WREKIN

In October of 2009 UK Coal were granted permission by the then Secretary of State, John Denham to mine 900,000 tonnes of coal from a site called 'Huntington Lane Surface Mine Site' near Telford, Shropshire - this beautiful 230 acre site near The Wrekin encompasses part of the Shropshire Hills Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty and is home to a scheduled ancient monument. At least one County Wildlife Site and the flora and fauna of the borough’s largest and most valuable areas of ancient woodland are threatened by the surface mine. The development also involves the disturbance of four badger setts and the foraging territories of a further two badger clans.

Not only does the proposed mine represent a major blot on the beautiful rural landscape, being clearly visible from the Wrekin and many other local areas, and also create three years of noise and dust for local residents – the subsequent burning of the mined coal will release a minimum of 2,430,000 tonnes of climate changing CO2 emissions into the atmosphere.

In March 2010 protesters moved onto the site in an effort to resist this destruction at the hands of UK Coal.

HOW TO GET THERE

The nearest train station is Wellington (Telford West) with buses to nearby Lawley every hour or alternatively a 40 minute walk from Wellington. Feel free to contact one of the site phones and we can arrange to pick you up from the station.

The entry point is actually on New Works Lane, New Works, Telford, Shropshire.

Please see the map below;

 http://maps.google.co.uk/maps?f=q&source=s_q&hl=en&geocode=&q=tf6+5bs&sll=52.675432,-2.498875&sspn=0.005738,0.013797&ie=UTF8&hq=&hnear=Telford+TF6+5BS,+United+Kingdom&ll=52.675174,-2.499985&spn=0.000724,0.001725&t=h&z=19

The marker on the map is not quite in the right place but is very close to the entry point for camp - the stile is actually on the other side of New Works Lane, just before the houses begin, in the bushes to the right of a shonky old gate! (Please don't block the gate if you're coming by car/van as it's still in use by the farmer - park at the side of the road if you can. There is more space to park heading north up New Works Lane) If you zoom right in on the map you can see the entrance on Streetview, but be warned - the greenery around the stile has grown substantially since this picture was taken! Once over the stile just follow the path; it breaks off to the left behind the houses and also to the right a little further along; ignore these turnings and follow the straight path which bears to the left after them. Continue to follow the path until you reach the sign directing you to camp.

HOW TO CONTACT THE CAMP

Tel: 07503 583419 or 07727 295232
Email:  defendhuntingtonlane@hushmail.com
Web:  http://defendhuntingtonlane.wordpress.com