Dear Friends,
below is our evidence to the public inquiry – please do feel free to use this as inspiration for your own letters to the Planning Inspectorate.
Our evidence is not a full list by any means – for example we havn’t mentioned the re-routing of the Wainwright Coast to Coast or the fact that this area is the last breeding place of in England of the black guillemot.
In conclusion we have said :
“Radiation Free Lakeland strongly urge the Planning Inspector to consider issues which he may initially have felt were outside the scope of this Inquiry but which have been central to our concerns from the outset. Issues including nuclear safety and drinking water quality. Issues which may in the final analysis be of even more overwhelming concern than climate impacts. Nuclear impacts would be catastrophic for the immediate and long term future and viability of not only Cumbria’s health and safety but the health and safety of our neighbouring countries. Our final thought is to leave the image of our first thought upon seeing West Cumbria Mining’s vision of the coal mine. It looks uncannily similar to the view of the Chernobyl sarcophagus and for those living in the shadow of Sellafield looks like the threat of a nuclear sacrifice zone rather than a promise of a “green mine.”
We urge the Planning Inspector to overturn Cumbria County Council’s approval for this uniquely dangerous coal mine.“
Please do write to the Planning Inspectorate, include your name and address and write before May 6th to this address, if you would like to speak at the inquiry please do let the Planning Inspectorate know.
Email: inquirydocuments4@planninginspectorate.gov.uk
Quote reference ‘APP/H0900/V/21/3271069
By post. (please send 3 copies written in black if possible)
Letters can be sent to:
Ms Elizabeth Humphrey
The Planning Inspectorate
Room 3/J Kite Wing
Temple Quay House
2 The Square
Bristol, BS1 6PN
Our full letter is below – please do use for inspiration for your own letters to the Planning Inspectorate
References:
(1) GDF plan halted 2013 https://mariannewildart.wordpress.com/2013/02/06/eddie-martins-speech-to-cabinet-on-30th-january/
(2). Keekle Head https://www.whitehavennews.co.uk/news/17139603.protesters-argue-against-the-burial-of-low-level-n-waste/
(3) Legal Challenge https://www.crowdjustice.com/case/cumbriancoal2/
(4) Leigh Day Judicial Review granted permission https://www.leighday.co.uk/latest-updates/news/2020-news/cumbrian-campaign-group-granted-permission-for-judicial-review-of-county-councils-approval-of-coal-mine/#:~:text=Campaign%20group%2C%20Keep%20Cumbrian%20Coal,the%20UK%20to%20be%20built.&text=On%2020%20June%202019%2C%20Leigh%20Day%20wrote%20to%20Cumbria%20County%20Council.
(6) Copy attached of Final Judgement between Marianne Bennett and Cumbria County Council and West Cumbria Mining 18/08/2020
(7) “Despite the applicant declaring on the company website that the raw material has very low ash and moderate sulphur levels, the key coking characteristics reflected in the current set of conditions are already and generously set high, at 8% for ash and 1.25% for sulphur. The applicant now requests to relax this to 9% and 2% respectively but is not offering a credible reason why this is necessary”. https://keepcumbriancoalinthehole.wordpress.com/2020/06/15/another-excellent-letter-of-objection-to-the-coal-mine-plan-write-today/
(8) Anhydrite mine https://copeland.moderngov.co.uk/documents/s7511/West%20Cumbria%20Mining%204-17-9007-0F2.pdf
(9) Potential for Contamination of Egremont boreholes used by UU as potable drinking water source for parts of West Cumbria (Appendix 12-9 Response to EA Comments by ESI Consulting – attached)
(10) “This group is dedicated to improving the water quality in West Cumbria and has been created as a result of the recent introduction of borehole water into our supply which many feel is unsatisfactory to say the least”. .https://www.facebook.com/groups/253953375095270/
(11) Groundwater monitoring at Sellafield https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/705993/Groundwater_Monitoring_at_Sellafield_-_Annual_Data_Review_2016.pdf
“workers repairing the leak were asked to sign a non-disclosure agreement, preventing them from discussing the details of the work, however Sellafield has denied this. The spokesman said: “We have been open and transparent about this incident. We have kept our regulators and stakeholders informed throughout and published details on our website on 18 November.” Last month there was another leak in the older part of the site and work is due to take place in the new year. Sellafield said: “The current suspected leak is in an inaccessible part of the building, which is underground.
https://www.in-cumbria.com/news/18052483.radioactive-fluid-leaking-sellafield-silo/
(12) Byerstead Fault questions asked of the EA and BGS https://www.whatdotheyknow.com/request/west_cumbria_mining_abstraction_2
(13) Troubled Waters https://mariannewildart.wordpress.com/2017/09/29/request-for-a-question-in-parliament-on-cumbrias-troubled-waters/amp/
(14) Citizen Science – Radioactive Beaches https://electricityinfo.org/news/sellafield-103/
(15) A briefing paper by Tim Deere-Jones. WEST CUMBRIA MINING: WOODHOUSE COLLIERY PROPOSAL RADIOLOGICAL IMPLICATIONS of POTENTIAL SEABED SUBSIDENCE SEISMICITY & “FAULT RE-ACTIVATION” beneath The CUMBRIAN MUD PATCH: INDUCED BY “MASS REMOVAL”, RAPID EXTRACTION & VOID SPACE CREATION. https://issuu.com/wildart/docs/west_cumbria_mining_-_radiological_implications_of
(16) Cronyism https://www.lakesagainstnucleardump.com/post/hot-nuclear-waste-and-duff-high-ash-high-sulphur-coal-for-steel-top-trump-cronies
(18) CUMBRIA, NUCLEAR WASTE, A GEOLOGICAL ‘DISPOSAL’ FACILITY (GDF) AND THE PROPOSED COAL MINE PETE ROCHE NUCLEAR FREE LOCAL AUTHORITIES ENGLISH FORUM 5TH MARCH 2021 https://www.nuclearpolicy.info/wp/wp-content/uploads/2021/03/Cumbria_Coal_GDF_PR.pdf
(19) enclosed The Pit and the Polar bear – comic book.
Keep Cumbrian Coal in the Hole 
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Here is Radiation Free Lakeland’s Evidence to the Public Inquiry on the Coal Mine – please do use as inspiration for your own letters – to be sent before May 6th
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