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<p class=MsoNormal><font size=3 face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:
12.0pt'>Hello, website team, have you considered doing this? (Sorry about the
final highlight below– unintended but I can’t get rid of it). <o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=3 face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:
12.0pt'>Love,<o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=3 face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:
12.0pt'>Ruth (<st1:City w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">London</st1:place></st1:City>
neighbourhood)<o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal align=center style='text-align:center'><font size=3
face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:12.0pt'><o:p> </o:p></span></font></p>
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face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:12.0pt'>
<hr size=2 width="100%" align=center tabIndex=-1>
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<p class=MsoNormal><b><font size=2 face=Tahoma><span style='font-size:10.0pt;
font-family:Tahoma;font-weight:bold'>From:</span></font></b><font size=2
face=Tahoma><span style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:Tahoma'>
ftp-bounces@freedomtoprotest<st1:PersonName w:st="on">.</st1:PersonName>org<st1:PersonName
w:st="on">.</st1:PersonName>uk [mailto:ftp-bounces@freedomtoprotest<st1:PersonName
w:st="on">.</st1:PersonName>org<st1:PersonName w:st="on">.</st1:PersonName>uk] <b><span
style='font-weight:bold'>On Behalf Of </span></b>dave<br>
<b><span style='font-weight:bold'>Sent:</span></b> 31 August 2010 10:27<br>
<b><span style='font-weight:bold'>To:</span></b> ftp@freedomtoprotest<st1:PersonName
w:st="on">.</st1:PersonName>org<st1:PersonName w:st="on">.</st1:PersonName>uk<br>
<b><span style='font-weight:bold'>Subject:</span></b> [ftp] Bullying Council
Takes Anti-Open Cast Community Council to Court - activists call for defiance</span></font><o:p></o:p></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=3 face="Times New Roman"><span lang=EN-GB
style='font-size:12.0pt'><o:p> </o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal style='margin-bottom:12.0pt'><font size=3
face="Times New Roman"><span lang=EN-GB style='font-size:12.0pt'><a
href="http://www.indymedia.org.uk/en/2010/08/457844.html"
title="blocked::http://www.indymedia.org.uk/en/2010/08/457844.html">http://www.indymedia.org.uk/en/2010/08/457844.html</a><o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<h1><a name=content></a><b><font size=4 face="Times New Roman"><span
lang=EN-GB style='font-size:13.5pt'>Bullying Council Takes Anti-Open Cast
Community Council to Court </span></font></b><span lang=EN-GB><o:p></o:p></span></h1>
<p class=MsoNormal style='margin-bottom:12.0pt'><font size=3
face="Times New Roman"><span lang=EN-GB style='font-size:12.0pt'>Indymedia 30<st1:PersonName
w:st="on">.</st1:PersonName>08<st1:PersonName w:st="on">.</st1:PersonName>2010<br>
<br>
<a name=abstract></a><st1:place w:st="on"><b><span style='font-weight:bold'>South
Lanarkshire</span></b></st1:place><b><span style='font-weight:bold'> Council
threatens Douglas Community Council after they reveal corruption<st1:PersonName
w:st="on">.</st1:PersonName> Coal Action Scotland demand that South Lanarkshire
Council end all legal proceedings immediately, issue an apology to the Community
Council, and <span style='background:yellow'>ask people to stand in solidarity
by posting up the original article on their websites and blogs<st1:PersonName
w:st="on">.</st1:PersonName></span> <br>
<br>
<br>
</span></b><span style='background:yellow'>The on-going battle over open cast
coal in the <st1:place w:st="on"><st1:PlaceName w:st="on">Douglas</st1:PlaceName>
<st1:PlaceName w:st="on">Valley</st1:PlaceName></st1:place> has had a shocking
development, with South Lanarkshire Council issuing each member of the Douglas
and Glespin Community Council with legal notices that proceedings against them
are to begin at <st1:Street w:st="on"><st1:address w:st="on">Lanark Sheriff
Court</st1:address></st1:Street> over alleged libel claims<st1:PersonName
w:st="on">.</st1:PersonName> This move is seen by the community as an attack on
their freedom of speech<st1:PersonName w:st="on">.</st1:PersonName> <br>
<br>
This latest dispute, where South Lanarkshire Council under the auspices of
Archie Strang, council Chief Executive, are taking primary school teachers and
pensioners to court in an effort to silence their dissenting voices, comes
because of a logo reading “South Lanarkshire COALcil” and an
article titled “South Lanarkshire Council and Scottish Coal Hand-in-Hand
at Community LIE-aison Meeting”<st1:PersonName w:st="on">.</st1:PersonName>
The logo superimposes the Council's logo with that of Scottish Coal, and the
article was a repost, linked from the Coal Action Scotland website<st1:PersonName
w:st="on">.</st1:PersonName></span> <br>
<br>
The article described a liaison meeting between the community, Scottish Coal
and South Lanarkshire Council<st1:PersonName w:st="on">.</st1:PersonName> At
this meeting, the council made every effort to exclude the community from it,
misrepresented what was said in minutes and council workers were
indistinguishable from Scottish Coal representatives<st1:PersonName w:st="on">.</st1:PersonName>
<br>
<br>
Coal Action Scotland are demanding that South Lanarkshire Council end all legal
proceedings immediately and issue an apology to the Community Council<st1:PersonName
w:st="on">.</st1:PersonName> <br>
<br>
Fiona Reed from Coal Action Scotland said today: “It is unbelievable that
the Council would take legal action over what is essentially a link, and not
even contact the original authors of the article<st1:PersonName w:st="on">.</st1:PersonName>
This is nothing more than an attempt to limit the Community Council's freedom
of speech<st1:PersonName w:st="on">.</st1:PersonName> The community has to put
up with ill health, environmental and economic degradation from open casting,
and now the politically-motivated bullying of this deceitful council<st1:PersonName
w:st="on">.</st1:PersonName> Take it back and say sorry Archie<st1:PersonName
w:st="on">.</st1:PersonName>” <br>
<br>
<span style='background:yellow'>Coal Action Scotland are also asking people to
stand in solidarity with the Community Council and post up the controversial
logo and article on their websites and blogs<st1:PersonName w:st="on">.</st1:PersonName></span>
<br>
<br>
- The original article can be found here: <a
href="http://coalactionscotland.org.uk/?p=1635"
title="blocked::http://coalactionscotland.org.uk/?p=1635">http://coalactionscotland.org.uk/?p=1635</a>
[See below]<br>
- <span style='background:yellow'>Douglas Community Council have been opposing
the decisions by South Lanarkshire Council to allow numerous open cast
developments throughout the valley for close to 20 years, with the campaign
against Mainshill Open Cast Coal site, where over 650 letters of objection were
submitted to the council and a survey by MSP Eiline Campbell found that 70% of
residents opposed the mine<st1:PersonName w:st="on">.</st1:PersonName></span> <br>
- Coal Action Scotland works with communities affected by coal mining and
infrastructure and takes direct action in support of campaigns, such as the
recent 7-month occupation of Mainshill Wood in South Lanarkshire <br>
- South Lanarkshire Council is renowned in the area for being pro-open cast
coal and for putting the interests of Scottish Coal before those of the people
in South Lanarkshire<st1:PersonName w:st="on">.</st1:PersonName> Indeed, the
council has never refused an open-cast application by Scottish Coal, despite
overwhelming community opposition<st1:PersonName w:st="on">.</st1:PersonName> <br>
<br>
-----------------------------------------<br>
<br>
<a href="http://coalactionscotland.org.uk/?p=1635"
title="blocked::http://coalactionscotland.org.uk/?p=1635" eudora=autourl>http://coalactionscotland.org.uk/?p=1635</a><o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<h3><b><font size=4 face="Times New Roman"><span lang=EN-GB style='font-size:
13.5pt'><a href="http://coalactionscotland.org.uk/?p=1635"
title="blocked::http://coalactionscotland.org.uk/?p=1635">South Lanarkshire
Council and Scottish Coal Hand-in-Hand at Community LIE-aison Meeting</a><o:p></o:p></span></font></b></h3>
<p class=MsoNormal style='margin-bottom:12.0pt'><font size=2
face="Times New Roman"><span lang=EN-GB style='font-size:10.0pt'>May 30th, 2010
<br>
<br>
</span></font><span lang=EN-GB>Anti-open cast residents of the <st1:place
w:st="on"><st1:PlaceName w:st="on">Douglas</st1:PlaceName> <st1:PlaceName
w:st="on">Valley</st1:PlaceName></st1:place> were subjected to the <st1:PersonName
w:st="on">sam</st1:PersonName>e old lies from South Lanarkshire Council (SLC)
and Scottish Coal in the most recent Poniel and Mainshill Open Casts Community
Liaison Meetings, both held on 27th April 2010<st1:PersonName w:st="on">.</st1:PersonName>
With it being practically impossible to distinguish members of SLC from
Scottish Coal, the meetings demonstrated the council and corporate corruption
which has blighted the <st1:place w:st="on"><st1:PlaceName w:st="on">Douglas</st1:PlaceName>
<st1:PlaceName w:st="on">Valley</st1:PlaceName></st1:place>, where open casts
are pushed through to the detriment of local health and devastation of the
environment<st1:PersonName w:st="on">.</st1:PersonName><br>
<br>
In the Poniel Community Liaison meeting Roger Dick, SLC’s Minerals
Enforcement Officer, noted that the restoration work at Poniel had temporarily
ceased due to the bad weather in recent months<st1:PersonName w:st="on">.</st1:PersonName>
Given the mess that Dalqhuandy has been left in, it is unsurprising that the
community remains unconvinced by Dick and Scottish Coal’s assurances that
restoration will be finished by the end of summer 2010, especially since the
extraction of 600,000 tons of coal from Poniel had finished by Christmas 2009<st1:PersonName
w:st="on">.</st1:PersonName> Poniel currently employs zero people from the
local area and Scottish Coal could not guarantee any jobs for local people from
the restoration work which is being subcontracted<st1:PersonName w:st="on">.</st1:PersonName><br>
<br>
SLC and Scottish Coal’s reluctance to provide a forum in which
communities can articulate their concerns about 20 years of open casting in the
area is apparent in the restrictions placed on attendees to the Mainshill
Community Liaison meetings: just 6 members of the local community are allowed
to attend, and they must live within 3 miles of the centre of the Mainshill
site, a distance even Scottish Coal admits is arbitrary<st1:PersonName w:st="on">.</st1:PersonName>
The company’s commitment to the local community is similarly minimal when
it comes to providing local employment<st1:PersonName w:st="on">.</st1:PersonName>
At the <st1:PersonName w:st="on">tim</st1:PersonName>e of the community liaison
meeting there were 39 workers on the Mainshill site operating single shifts<st1:PersonName
w:st="on">.</st1:PersonName> Scottish Coal are hoping to introduce two 8 hour
shifts a day, running from 6am-2pm and 2pm-10pm<st1:PersonName w:st="on">.</st1:PersonName>
Scottish Coal boasted that 29 of the employees live within a ML postcode but
with this postcode meaning Motherwell and not Mainshill, these workers may come
from as far as 25 miles away from Douglas<st1:PersonName w:st="on">.</st1:PersonName>
Ian Gardner, Site Manager at Mainshill said, ‘The employment thing is a
seasonal thing’ and acknowledged that during soil extraction the numbers
employed fluctuates<st1:PersonName w:st="on">.</st1:PersonName> Scottish Coal
revealed that coal was programmed to be lifted from the site on May 15th and
that the dispatch date was not yet known but the coal from Mainshill will be
taken to Ravenstruther<st1:PersonName w:st="on">.</st1:PersonName><br>
<br>
Despite the constant deflecting of questions, members of the community
persisted in grilling Scottish Coal and SLC about coal lorries on <st1:place
w:st="on">Douglas</st1:place>’ roads<st1:PersonName w:st="on">.</st1:PersonName>
Coal from Broken Cross Open Cast is currently being transported through <st1:place
w:st="on">Douglas</st1:place> to Ravenstruther and on a return haul basis to
Ayrshire<st1:PersonName w:st="on">.</st1:PersonName> Scottish Coal’s
typically evasive response was that, ‘Quality issues have necessitated
that we do it’ and ‘Nothing precludes us from taking coal through <st1:place
w:st="on">Douglas</st1:place>’<st1:PersonName w:st="on">.</st1:PersonName>
However, legal agreements between Scottish Coal and SLC state that, under
Section 96, extraordinary wear on the road due to open cast mines is restricted
to within a ½ mile to 1 mile stretch from the site entrances<st1:PersonName
w:st="on">.</st1:PersonName> When asked how this is monitored and when Scottish
Coal would be required to sort out such wear and tear, Roger Dick said that the
only monitoring is carried out by him as he ‘observes lorry movements if
I’m in the area<st1:PersonName w:st="on">.</st1:PersonName>’ When
pushed further and asked by a local resident, ‘How do you monitor
it?’, Dick replied ‘I don’t’<st1:PersonName w:st="on">.</st1:PersonName>
SLC and Scottish Coal both refused to acknowledge the role of coal trucks and
heavy machinery entering and exiting the site in causing extraordinary wear and
tear on the A70 just outside Mainshill<st1:PersonName w:st="on">.</st1:PersonName>
Frustrated residents were angered by this shirking of responsibility and the
lack of warning given for the recent closure of a section of the A70 for
resurfacing<st1:PersonName w:st="on">.</st1:PersonName><br>
<br>
Damage done to road surfaces is not the only thing going unmonitored<st1:PersonName
w:st="on">.</st1:PersonName> The Mainshill site manager Jim Gardner said that
The Coal Authority licence for the extraction of coal is expected to be granted
soon<st1:PersonName w:st="on">.</st1:PersonName> Even before coal is extracted
from site dangerous Particulate Matter is being released into the air from
diesel consumed by vehicles on site<st1:PersonName w:st="on">.</st1:PersonName>
When quizzed by local residents about dust monitoring, Scottish Coal answered
that exposure levels are being monitored according to PAN 50 guidelines but
were embarrassingly revealed not to be measuring Particulate Matter (PM) sizes
or quantities, the information required to monitor the impact of the open cast
on local health<st1:PersonName w:st="on">.</st1:PersonName> When asked by angry
residents if they would start monitoring PM sizes and quantities, Scottish Coal
said they would advise the next community liaison meeting of their decision on
this matter<st1:PersonName w:st="on">.</st1:PersonName> Despite not collecting
any useful data regarding dust at Mainshill, Scottish Coal have released their
own health report alongside the application for an extension to the open cast
at Glentaggart, provoked by the ‘Coal Health Study: Douglasdale
Edition’ produced by members of the local community in conjunction with
the Mainshill Solidarity Camp<st1:PersonName w:st="on">.</st1:PersonName> Given
that they aren’t even monitoring the particles which have an impact on
health, how can we be expected to trust the information in their health report?<br>
<br>
When pushed to declare the diesel consumption at Mainshill, Scottish
Coal’s Colin Ortlepp answered: ‘It’s not information that
I’ll be passing on to this committee<st1:PersonName w:st="on">.</st1:PersonName>’
The application to mine Mainshill was submitted under SPP16, which obliges
Scottish Coal to declare diesel consumption, but members of SLC admitted that
they had chosen not to ask for this information at the <st1:PersonName w:st="on">tim</st1:PersonName>e<st1:PersonName
w:st="on">.</st1:PersonName> Under new planning policy that superceded SPP16 in
February, there is now no obligation for Scottish Coal to declare diesel
consumption<st1:PersonName w:st="on">.</st1:PersonName> Planning legislation is
becoming increasingly convenient for greedy companies such as Scottish Coal,
and SLC places no pressure on the company to increase transparency<st1:PersonName
w:st="on">.</st1:PersonName><br>
<br>
Demonstrating the <st1:PersonName w:st="on">sam</st1:PersonName>e level of
transparency as Scottish Coal and SLC, the Douglas & Angus Estates manager
Ian Flemming managed to completely avoid answering locals’ questions
about the long plantation<st1:PersonName w:st="on">.</st1:PersonName> The
ownership of this woodland is meant to be being transferred back to the Estate to
prevent open casting as part of the deal to mine Mainshill<st1:PersonName
w:st="on">.</st1:PersonName> Flemming simply said: ‘I don’t think
I’ll comment on that at the moment’<st1:PersonName w:st="on">.</st1:PersonName><br>
<br>
As well as skirting around the questions asked by local residents, SLC,
Scottish Coal and Douglas & Angus Estates revealed that the community fund
which is supposed to go some way to recompensing those who live around these
open casts has not even been established yet<st1:PersonName w:st="on">.</st1:PersonName>
The ‘Mainshill Trust’ will be made up of a donation from Scottish
Coal of 25 pence a tonne which will be ‘topped up’ by the Douglas
and Angus Estate at 12 ½ pence a tonne<st1:PersonName w:st="on">.</st1:PersonName><o:p></o:p></span></p>
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