Friday 1st October is the last day of the Public Inquiry, and it ends with “closing statements” from FOE, SLACC and WCM. If the morning’s discussion on planning conditions finishes on time, Paul Brown may start his speech for FOE at about 1pm. Each barrister is allowed to speak for an hour and a half, and it can all be watched on Youtube, live or on “catchup”.
There has been a real struggle between SLACC and the mining company, WCM, and today SLACC lawyers submitted “legal submissions” to say that late changes to WCMs proposals should not be allowed to go forward for consideration. The change relates to an engineering operation to dig a tunnel under two areas of woodland , but leaving important details of the operation until after the mine has been been already approved. No one knows yet what the ground conditions are like, where the water table lies, and whether the “pipe-jacking ” operation with 8m deep trenches close to the woodlands would “dewater” the “gill”, and the wet ground conditions essential for the all the Ancient Woodland trees and plants, right along the deep wooded ravine. SLACC would support the option if it would definitely save the Ancient Woodland, but it might be even worse than the earlier option to dig an open trench across one smaller area.
Our expert witnesses have already explained why there is no need for the WCM coal, and there is no justifiable reason to risk harm to irreplaceable habitat. Yesterday SLACCs planning expert told the Planning Inspector that, in his professional judgement, the local benefits were “moderate” compared to the extremely harmful impacts of climate change that would be caused by the use of the coal in making steel. The final report on the Inquiry may not be completed until Christmas, and Michael Gove, as the new Secretary of State for Housing Communities and Local Government (MHCLG) will make the final decision.