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NEWS
Click HERE for a list of links to ALL the news stories Water, water everywhere... year, after year, after year.... 14 December 2011
 Water, water everywhere...year, after year, after year....
We have become all too aware of environmentalists and scientists all over the world reminding us that global warming will have varied and potentially dramatic alterations to our climate and subsequent weather patterns, and the effects this will have on our daily lives.
They also predict still that it could occur with greater regularity and intensity.
It would appear that this has become all to real for those living in and around the Clyde particularly in Clydesdale, where the the river has shown how dramatic these changes can be.
Official predictions stated that the Clyde river would only flood once in a fifteen year period. Over recent years the Clyde has flooded regularly in and around the land at Overburns, as well as other areas down stream.
Thankfully, dramatic events such as this rarely go unobserved.
To view weather related changes to the river Clyde at Overburns, click HERE
Future is... waterlogged - Gazette 11 December 2011
Future is...waterlogged - Gazette
Panoramic view...flooding at the site of the proposed quarry has given CRAG even more cause for concern
Click on picture above to view the Clyde flooding at Overburns
LAST week's heavy rains opened a window on a nightmare future ahead for one of the most beautiful parts of Clydesdale.
One of the heaviest areas of flooding due to the downpour was at Overburns near Coulter, an incident those campaigning against a quarry being created there couldn't resist citing as proof of their arguments against the development.
A final decision is expected soon on the second attempt by quarrying company Patersons to gain planning permission to extract hundreds of thousands of tons of sand and gravel from the scenic spot, a scheme staunchly opposed by local residents in the Clyde River Action Group (CRAG).
A major plank of CRAG's case is that the quarry will lead to frequent, environmentally-damaging flooding of the area.
Members have pointed to last week's severe flooding at Overburns - even BEFORE any quarrying - as proof positive of the dire predictions they have been making.
Said their spokesman, local businessmnan and politician Arthur Bell: "Virtually the whole site of Paterson's planned quarry between Coulter, Lamington and Symington was awash with deep, fast-moving Clyde waters on November 29.
"This is not suprising because the site lies on the great river's floodplain. What is astonishing is that anyone could be so greedy for the profits of dredging the sand and gravel from this site that they ignore the warnings from so many experts of dangers to the environment, to the neighbouring farms and, further downriver, to the fish and their essential feed of insects and plantlife."
Arthur went on to claim that the consequences of last week's heavy rainfall even before there was any quarrying made a nonsense of Paterson's claims that it could erect workable flood defences as part of the development.
He said: "Such River Clyde raging waters will not for long be held back by Paterson's proposed flood defences. Much diesel, clay and toxins would pollute the river which has had millions of pounds spent on it over the past 50 years cleaning it up.
"We have seen this plain flooding naturally FIVE times since CRAG started this campaign. This does not square with Paterson's consultant's assertion that the river floods only once every 15 years."
Arthur went on to attack the apparent acceptance by the Scottish Environmental Protection Agency (SEPA) of Paterson's
assurances on the flooding issue, appealing for it to change its mind.
He said: "SEPA must withdraw from its position before the application goes before South Lanarkshure Council. It is time for the agency "tae think again'."
He added that he had sent photos of last week's flooding to MSPs, government ministers and councillors, hoping this will prompt them to pressure SEPA into a change of heart.
The Gazette offered Paterson's a chance to reply to the issues raised - the offer was politely, but firmly, declined.
By Ron Harris
Carluke and Lanark Gazette
8/12/11
Click on link below to view video and photo's of the Clyde flooding in 2009, 2010 and 2011
No Economic Need at Overburns ! 30 November 2011 No Economic Need at Overburns !
"It is startling ! There is clearly not an economic need...so why destroy the environment ?"
C Parker
South Lanarkshire Council (SLC) have also publicly stated that there is presently a supply of gravel in the area for the next 15 years.
So what is the point of the Overburns application ?!
Application determination delayed to 2012 09 November 2011 Application determination delayed to 2012
South Lanarkshire Council have requested clarification from Patersons on points raised by Scottish Natural Heritage in their latest consultation response.
It would appear that the application will not be heard at the committee on the 29th November.
South Lanarkshire Council's next available planning committee is the 24th January 2012. Fight was lost on quarry HGV route (Dunduff extension) - Gazette 04 November 2011
Fight was lost on quarry HGV route - Gazette
The council's planning committee gave the green light to the plans, by Patersons of Greenoakhill, which will see the company remove between 600,000 and 800,000 tonnes per year of three hard rock types.
Patersons estimate that there will be between 73 to 87 full time jobs created.
However, it is the decision to reroute the traffic, from Blackwood and Kirkmuirhill, through the north of Lesmahagow, that has caused the most controversy.
In total there were 1251 representations regarding the application - 789 objecting to the application and 462 supporting it.
An estimated 13 lorries every hour will be leaving from the quarry; previously they would have travelled past three primary schools going through Blackwood and Kirkmuirhill.
However, now the lorries will be travelling through Lesmahagow.
Clydesdale South councillor Archie Manson said: "I am pleased with the decision to re-route the lorries. It's taking a lot of traffic away from three primary schools and children's safety is always paramount.
"I understand the concerns of the people of Lesmahagow but it is the only route available. If there was another route I would support it wholeheartedly but there isn't one that's financially viable."
Alan Cardwell has been at the forefront of the campaign to stop the lorries going through Lesmahagow, which was also supported by Lesmahagow Community Council, who objected to the application, and believes neither community should have to put up with the traffic disruption from the lorries.
He said: "We feel that the council is changing its own rules to suit the application.
"One of the main reasons that the lorries are being re-routed is that, at the moment, the lorries travel past the primary schools.
"Yet when it was pointed out that many children use part of the route to travel to Milton Primary and Lesmahagow High School it was simply noted that the section of road has a 30mph speed limit. There is a 30mph speed restriction in Blackwood and Kirkmuirhill.
"We have had a lot of support from the people of Lesmahagow and there is a very strong feeling that this road is not suitable.
"The traffic shouldn't be going through the villages of Blackwood and Kirkmuirhill and it shouldn't be going through Lesmahagow either.
"We have already identified another road that could be used but the council don't seem interested in talking about it."
It was noted in the application report that the Scottish Wildlife Trust had objected, on the grounds of the loss of wildlife habitat in the eatern extension and the increased risk of pollution to the Birkwood Burn.
The report also revealed that Patersons were unwilling to make a contribution to the Rural Communities Trust Fund with the firm stating the application would not have an adverse impact on the environment or communities.
It also stated that any adverse impact could be satisfactorily controlled through planning conditions.
Patersons quarry extension to be heard at committee 29 October 2011  Patersons quarry extension to be heard at committee
The application for the ‘Consolidation of two extant planning consents including eastern extension, formation of overburden storage area to the south, establishment of concrete block making facility, formation of new site access and resultant re-routing of traffic’ will be the first application on the agenda.
The opinion of council planners is to grant permission.
Click on link below to read committee report (PDF doc) Quarry route road danger - Gazette 29 October 2011 Quarry route road danger - Gazette
NEW data has revealed that the road which could carry dozens of lorries from the proposed Overburns Farm quarry has on average one accident almost every fortnight.
The information, received by the Clyde River Action Group (CRAG) following a Freedom of Information request, shows the accident numbers between Biggar and M74 on the A702 in the past 10 years.
The stretch of road, which is approximately 11 miles long, has seen 204 reported incidents in the past decade.
On average there are around 20 incidents per year, which is nearly one every fortnight.
In those, there have been 60 people injured and five deaths.
David Wilson, from CRAG, said: "These are only incidents in which people have been injured. There have also been dozens of crashes on this road as well."
CRAG members have also been analysing quarry developers Patersons' traffic report.
In the traffic and transportation section of Patersons' non technical summary the company Rural beauty...quarrying site states that, if planning permission is granted, heavy goods vehicles leaving the quarry would amount to 56 trips per day, meaning there would be 112 two way movements daily.
Of these journeys, 60 per cent of vehicles would travel south on the A702 through Lamington with the remaining vehicles travelling north through Coulter.
Patersons plans to extract 3.3 million tonnes from the quarry over its lifetime.
CRAG members have calculated that because the quarry will generate 112 HGV movements per working day, excluding staff and local contractors, the 12-hour traffic flow at the proposed quarry would be 3145 vehicles and of these, 540 would be HGVs, which amounts to 17.2 per cent of all vehicles.
CRAG say that the number of HGVs would increase from 540 to 652 each working day, an increase of 20.7 per cent.
David added: "Logically, an increase in HGVs, mixed with traffic that is travelling much faster, particularly that which has just come off the M74, will increase the chances of accidents occurring.
"As we know, those chances are already very high. The impact of HGVs specifically, as opposed to any class of traffic, is very much ignored by Patersons."
Patersons has stated that the overall volume of traffic would increase by 2.5 per cent.
CRAG's official spokesman Arthur Bell said: "The road is a present danger. Heavy traffic, in the amount that Patersons are proposing, is bad enough let alone the extra vehicles caused by staff and other users to their place of work; it would be a disaster for the area.
"It's been six months since Coulter Bridge was damaged due to an accident and it is still unrepaired. This bridge will have to take thousands of heavy lorry movements each year.
"CRAG's concern is that there are already bad accidents on this stretch of road. It's one of the main reasons why our councillors would be sensible to reject Patersons' second application."
A702 traffic incidents over the past 10 years 17 October 2011
A702 traffic incidents over the past 10 years
Accident numbers between Biggar and M74 on the A702 in the past ten years reveals that in that period there have been 204 reported incidents.
On average twenty a year, which is nearly one every fortnight…of those there have been 60 injuries and 5 fatalities....
Click on link below for more details
Campaigners in call for inquiry over ‘conflict of interests’ in Clyde quarry plan - heraldscotland 09 October 2011
Environmentalists have demanded an inquiry into a conflict of interest they say has compromised a bitterly disputed plan for a massive new quarry on the banks of the River Clyde in Lanarkshire.
Two directors of Patersons Quarries Ltd, the Glasgow-based company behind an application for a three million-tonne sand and gravel quarry near Biggar, help run an environmental consultancy that has given a good report on the plan.
Two of Patersons’ directors, William Paterson and James Richardson, are listed as directors of Envirocentre, a Glasgow-based firm that provided an “independent check” on the safe management of flood risks from the quarry.
The Clyde River Action Group (CRAG), which is campaigning against the quarry, has questioned the impartiality of the consultant’s advice. “This report is meant to be independent by law, yet it is about as independent as Palestine,” said the group’s spokesman, Arthur Bell.
“If an audit were to be carried out on a company by auditors who included the company’s own directors, without any declaration of conflict of interest, then Companies House would prosecute.”
Stan Blackley, chief executive of Friends Of The Earth Scotland, said: “If there is any suggestion of a conflict of interests, then the quarry application must be rejected and an inquiry launched.”
An earlier planning application by Patersons was rejected by South Lanarkshire Council last year, after the Scottish Environment Protection Agency (Sepa) objected. But the company reapplied for permission for a slightly smaller quarry.
It now wants to extract 3.3 million tonnes of sand and gravel over 10 years from 37 hectares of land at Overburns Farm, under Tinto Hill, near Lamington. Afterwards, the firm promises to restore the land.
This time Sepa has not objected, although it has said a series of conditions on flood risks must be attached to planning permission. This has infuriated local people, who claim Sepa has been influenced by Envirocentre’s assessment.
Caroline Parker, a farmer and chairwoman of CRAG, said: “Sepa has been gullible enough to take something spoon-fed them by the applicants and their agents,” she said.
Patersons also runs a landfill site at Greenoakhill, Mount Vernon, Glasgow. The Sunday Herald has previously revealed the site has failed Sepa’s pollution performance assessments for the last four years.
Sepa said it did not depend on Envirocentre’s check of flood risks, but its own independent assessment.
Patersons did not comment.
Published on 9 Oct 2011
'Conflict of interest' claim over Biggar quarry plan - BBC Scotland 07 October 2011
'Conflict of interest' claim over Biggar quarry plan
- BBC Scotland.
Controversial plans for a quarry in South Lanarkshire should be thrown out due to a "serious undeclared conflict of interest", campaigners have said.
Quarry firm Patersons has made a second bid for planning permission to excavate a site at Overburns Farm, near Biggar.
An independent company, Envirocentre Ltd, has been brought in to verify the company's risk assessment of possible flooding at the site.
But campaigners say William Paterson sits on the board of both companies.
Patersons original submission to quarry five million tonnes of gravel from an 80-acre site at Overburns Farm, Lamington, near Tinto Hill, was rejected by South Lanarkshire Council in July last year.
New application
The company has submitted a scaled back proposal but local opposition remains strong.
One of the risks, previously highlighted to quarrying in the area, was flooding.
Envirocentre Ltd was brought in to independently assess this risk.
Local campaigners, however, say that the director of Patersons - William Paterson - is also a director of Envirocentre.
They claim this is a serious undeclared conflict of interest and enough evidence that the planning application should be withdrawn.
The Scottish Environment Protection Agency, which has an input to the planning process, has said it will not rely on the Environcentre report.
Patersons have, so far, refused to comment.
BBC News Glasgow & West Scotland
7 October 2011
Click HERE for information on Envirocentre Ltd
and HERE... and HERE
Click HERE to watch BBC Scotland news item 7/10/11
Click on link below to listen to BBC Radio Scotland news item on 7/10/11 Crag questions make up of ‘independent’ body - Gazette 06 October 2011 Crag questions make up of ‘independent’ body - Gazette
 CONTROVERSY has once again reared its head in the Overburns Farm planning application as it emerged that the Scottish Environmental Protection Agency (SEPA) may rescind its objection to the plans.
In a further twist the Clyde River Action Group (CRAG) has claimed that the authors of an independent report, which prompted SEPA to advise the council that it may rescind its objections, had two Board Directors of developer Patersons of Greenoakhill on its board, namely William Paterson and James Richardson.
CRAG Chairwoman Caroline Parker revealed the pressure group was only alerted to the connection by a member of the public and has urged both the Scottish Government and South Lanarkshire Council to refuse to consider the application.
She said: "Patersons of Greenoakhill Ltd had been 'named and shamed' as one of the top 25 worst despoilers of Scotland's landscape. This was according to SEPA, the Scottish Environmental Protection Agency.
"Huge public anger followed the company's application, as among other aspects, there would be an additional 25,000 or more lorry movements on the dangerous A702 Edinburgh/M74 road, each belching diesel fumes.
"Even worse was the destruction of many rare wildlife habitats. SEPA strongly objected, and the councillors rejected the plan.
"The current Planning Act calls for an independent environmental report on such major applications.
"Now it emerges that SEPA officials are advising the council it may rescind its objections on the basis of the independent report submitted for Patersons.
"This was drafted by a company called Envirocentre Ltd.
"But the Chairman of Patersons William Paterson, turns out to be a Board Director of Envirocentre. That makes the report about as independent as Palestine!
"The Scottish Government and SEPA must press South Lanarkshire Council to withdraw this awful application immediately, and set up an enquiry into doubtful practices apparently abusing planning law."
In a letter to the council SEPA confirmed that it would not object to the application providing certain planning conditions were met.
The Gazette was waiting for a response from Patersons as it went to press this week.
South of Scotland MSP Claudia Beamish is already taking action on the subject.
She said: "The views of SEPA will carry considerable weight when a decision on this application is made and it is vitally important that the basis of their assessment is impartial.
"People will naturally be suspicious if key evidence verification which has led to the reversal of SEPA's decision comes from a source that is in any way linked to the applicants.
"This is particularly concerning as Envirocentre has signed a South Lanarkshire 'Flood Risk Assessment - Independent Check Certificate'.
"I will be writing to SEPA to ask for clarification on their assessment of the information and to ask whether they consider it appropriate under the circumstances.
"I will also be asking South Lanarkshire Council whether this apparent conflict of interest invalidates the information provided and indeed the application itself."
by Ross Thomson
Plea not let this nightmare happen - Gazette 14 August 2011 Plea not let this nightmare happen - Gazette
A NIGHTMARE picture has been painted of the "disaster area" Clydesdale's countryside would become if controversial quarrying plans get the go-ahead.
It is part of the final assault against the proposal for a huge mining operation at Overburns near Lamington from the figure leading the Clyde River Action Group opposing the scheme, businessman and politician Arthur Bell.
 The deadline for objections to the scheme closed on Tuesday and South Lanarkshire Council will now consider again a development it knocked back for planning permission last year.
In his final letter of objection to the council, Arthur threw everything at the proposal by developers Patersons, ranging from allegations of human rights violations to the violation of mother nature itself.
In his lengthy and impassioned plea for the council to again reject the scheme, he puts his case in four parts.
Firstly, on minerals and need he states that "quite simply, the application is in the wrong place", claiming that the council's own policy strictly restricts quarrying in places of "scenic value", of which, he states, Overburns is one, describing it as "nestling in a glorious landscape beneath Tinto Hill", containing "an important wildlife corridor".
The second plank of his argument is on tourism and jobs; he states that the A702 road passing by Overburns is designated the "Clyde Valley Tourist Route" and that it is "the most popular road to Scotland's capital".
This helped make tourism "an important sector of the rural economy", one that would be ruined if the quarry got the green light.
He said: "Tourists are to be trapped for many miles, frustrated and delayed behind any one of the 20,000 plus laden or unloaded trucks that would clutter this road each year."
Arthur concludes: "Our catering, retail, garage and accommodation businesses will suffer and jobs will go"
On environment and ecology he dismisses assurances from the developer of measures to protect these, claiming: "Whatever their intentions, nothing the company can do will prevent this ecological disaster for the Clyde."
Finally, on public health and road safety, Arthur makes perhaps his most dire warnings, claiming that the extra lorry traffic on the rural A701 will mean "accidents WILL occur" and cites as one of the risks of damage to the road surface a repeat of the Lanark Grammar coach crash in Wiston last year.
Arthur pointedly asks: "Who is prepared to take more risks with our local children's lives after that dreadful event?"
An answer to that and his other questions are expected shortly from the council planning committee.
Picture by kind permission of Simon Butterworth Merlin Bonning captures the CLYDE and CRAG campaign on film 10 August 2011
CLYDE and CRAG campaign captured on film
. . . don't wait . . . ACT NOW 30 July 2011  ...don't wait...ACT NOW
Click on the image or link below to view, download, print and pass on the leaflet.
If you leave it to someone else to pass it on, it probably won't be, so don't wait...ACT NOW support CRAG and help save our local environment. Dear Fellow River Clyde Lover... 12 July 2011
Dear Fellow River Clyde Lover,
New Quarry Application at Overburns Farm, Lamington
We wish we did not have to write this letter to you…but we feel we must.
By now you may be aware Overburns Farm, on the floodplain of the Upper Clyde, is again under threat from a planning application to quarry. It’s from our old friends Patersons of Greenoakhill Ltd. They still want to dig a quarry ‘bigger than Biggar, despite the unanimous rejection of virtually the same plans, exactly one year ago.
So, as you are someone who made the effort to object last time, can we ask for your help again please? There are so many reasons you’ll find to object to this potential ecological disaster, but may I remind you of four key issues?
1 Wildlife - The destruction of habitat for flora and fauna (over 80 different bird species, otters etc.) is appalling – in the name of corporate and personal greed.
2 Recreation & Jobs - This stretch of the Clyde attracts over 10,000 fishermen each year, and that means local jobs. Thousands more climb Tinto Hill overlooking the site, while bird watchers and photographers abound. The fish will be killed, while both birds and visitors will go away.
3 Essential Need - The central belt of Scotland has huge reserves of sand and gravel, yet many quarries have now closed, or work part time. There is no new demand or strategic need, to quarry here.
4 Road Safety - An extra 25,000 heavy lorry movements each year (for 15 years!), will endanger many lives on the dangerous A702. And these trucks will thunder through our small towns and villages every day.
Will you please register your objections to Head of Planning and Building Standards Services, South Lanarkshire Council, Montrose House, 154 Montrose Crescent, Hamilton ML3 6LB
Please act before the deadline of August 9th
Please quote application reference no: CL/11/0305
Finally, in the words of the song – “Buddy can you spare a dime?”, CRAG’s campaign; in public and environmental interest, has personally cost us lots. If this goes to appeal and we have to employ a top QC the costs will soar. We are local volunteers, not wealthy quarry owners, and hope you can manage to help out CRAG with a donation. You’ll find I’ve (cheekily) included a form below to help you.
So thank you for your time and support on this critical issue.
Together we will win again.
Yours, on behalf of CRAG (for the beautiful environment, jobs, and the River Clyde),
Arthur J A Bell
Caroline Parker Arthur J A Bell
Chairman President
Clyde River Action Group Biggar & District Civic Soc.
PS As one local farmer recently said to us:
“Only a madman would dig a quarry on a floodplain”.
So it’s over to you...
DONATION FORM
Please help CRAG stop the rape of the Upper River Clyde
I understand the many dangers to the Upper Clyde environment posed by this second Paterson’s application to quarry at Overburns near Lamington, Symington, Coulter, and Biggar, and I share CRAG’s concerns.
To help defer the campaign’s growing costs I would like to donate the sum of £10 / £20 / £50 / other £___
I enclose my cheque made out to CRAG.
(Please post to CRAG c/o Atkinson Pryce Bookshop, 27 High Street, Biggar ML12 6DA)
or
I have paid it in to the Clyde River Action Group account no; 00605079 at the Royal Bank of Scotland PLC, 104 High Street, Biggar ML12 6DH.
I understand my donation will go to helping defray CRAG’s planning, scientific, legal, and other campaigning costs.
Signed_____________________________
(Please print)
Surname Mr / Mrs / Miss / Ms_____________________Initial / s_______
Address____________________________________________________
Postcode___________
Tel no:_____________
e-mail______________
And a HUGE THANK YOU from CRAG for your help.
Please tick here___ if you wish a receipt
CRAG is a volunteer group of concerned locals from Biggar and its surrounding communities.
Click on the link below to download / print the above letter Patersons second application has now been registered 07 July 2011 Patersons second application has now been registered
The second quarry application from Patersons has formally been registered at South Lanarkshire Council today 7/7/11.
Stand rock steady - Gazette Editor 07 July 2011 Stand rock steady - Gazette Editor
JUST a year after toasting the fact that Patersons of Greenoakhill had been sent packing, the battle-ready CRAG campaigners are once again gearing up to fight the good fight again. Short of industry and, in some cases, shops in town centres some will argue that ANY firm that promises jobs has to be welcomed. However, what cost the price of just 15 jobs? An area of outstanding natural beauty will be changed forever...and not for the better. Regardless of any promises the firm makes, we would be foolish to think that this area on the banks of the Clyde would not be scarred by the work. I am not known as a tree-hugger: you wouldn't catch me doing a Swampy. I do my bit in terms of recycling but thats where my environmental credentials end. However, this area's outstanding beauty has surely witnessed enough scarring and pillaging by the coal companies without Patersons being given the green light. Hopefully, SLC will stick to its guns and send "em packing once again.
CRAG is ready to do battle...again - Gazette 07 July 2011 CRAG is ready to do battle...again - Gazette
 THE fight to stop the creation of a quarry near Lamington has started for a second time almost a year after the first application was rejected.
Patersons of Greenoakhill has submitted a fresh application to extract thousands of tonnes of sand and gravel from the scenic Overburns Farm site but again faces fierce opposition locally.
Clyde River Action Group (CRAG) was set up to fight the first application by Patersons, rejected by the council's planning committee on July 6,2010.
Having triumphed against Patersons once before, CRAG believes history will repeat itself.
Chairwoman Caroline Parker said: "It's exactly a year since Patersons plans were rejected. Now a year on they have submitted the same proposals. We in the community are outraged that Patersons would come back so soon. It is disrespectful to the Scottish planning system with the cost and time taken up by this."
The application was submitted on Friday afternoon with the statutory consultation period lasting until early next month.
It is expected that a decision could be taken by early November and there is the possibility that Patersons could take the case to the Scottish Government if the company is knocked back again.
On Monday the developer issued a full briefing pack on its new application to the Gazette.
The extensive document claims to address each of the points on which the first application was knocked back, claiming that the decision was made "without Patersons having sufficient opportunity to address" the objections.
Among the changes made to the scheme from the original application to allay some of the objections - is moving the workings further back from the riverbank, from 20 metres to between 25 to 30 metres and upgrading the restoration of the land to a natural state after quarrying.
The developer has also reduced the amount of sand and gravel it plans to quarry from the site down by roughly a quarter, from 4.6 million tonnes to 3.3m tonnes.
The documents claims that, far from being the profit-driven rape of a beautiful area of countryside depicted by CRAG, the project would actually have long-term benefits for the area.
Apart from the 15 new jobs the works would create, Patersons stated: "Following restoration of the site, there are no residual significant adverse environmental impacts. It is notable that, in terms of landscape and visual amenity, public access, flood storage capacity and ecology aspects, that there will be improvements brought about by the development."
The original application united politicians from all sides of the political divide and the second application is doing the same.
MSPs Aileen Campbell and South of Scotland Lib Dem MSP Jim Hume attended the public consultation meeting in March while newly elected Labour list MSP Claudia Beamish threw her weight behind CRAG.
Jim said: "The previous and very recent application was refused and for good reason. The proposed site at Overburns is unsuitable for this type of development.
"I simply cannot see how submitting what seems to be the same application can even be allowed in planning terms.
"However the application is presented, it cannot be denied that the purpose would be to extract huge amounts of gravel over an extended period of time.
"That can only be detrimental to the local environment and I can only hope that the council comes to the same conclusion as before and refuses the application again."
Click on link below for more information Patersons apply for Overburns quarry…again ? 05 July 2011
Patersons apply for Overburns quarry..again?
As of 1st July, South Lanarkshire Council (SLC) received a SECOND application CL/11/X0347/NEW from Patersons seeking permission to create an open cast site for ‘the phased extraction of sand and gravel and establishment of associated plant site, access road and new site access with ancillary works to the A702 trunk road’ at Overburns Farm, Lamington…the first was rejected by the Council last year.
For more details on the application at this stage click HERE
The assigned SLC planning case officer is Donald Wilkins. He can be contacted at the following...
South Lanarkshire Council
Headquarters
Tel – 01698455903
OBJECT NOW...click HERE
Same fate faced as Dresden? - Gazette 04 June 2011 Same fate faced as Dresden? - Gazette
IF PLANS for a quarry breaching New Lanark's buffer zone get the go-ahead, it could lead to the village being "struck off" the list of World Heritage sites.
That's the fear voiced to the Gazette this week by local conservationists.
The plans by Cemex which operates Hyndford Quarry opposite Lanark Racecourse are due to be submitted shortly to South Lanarkshire Council.
But Ed Archer said this week that some of the land involved was parkland, formerly part of the Bonnington Estate, and inside the heritage buffer zone.
And an ancient drove road, dating back to the Middle Ages down to the ancient ford of the river Clyde at Tullieford, would disappear.
River Clyde at Tulliford
"The main concern is the threat to the status of New Lanark as a World Heritage site," said Ed. And he added that the Unesco report when New Lanark was granted heritage status stated that there should be no quarrying within the buffer zone.
"What then are the implications if the quarry gets the green light?" asked the local historian.
"The status of New Lanark as a World Heritage Site could be compromised.
"Dresden was struck off the list for failing to stop a bridge being built in a buffer zone.
"New Lanark could meet the same fate as Dresden."
And he said that recent developments indicated that South Lanarkshire Council and Historic Scotland were in favour of changes to the buffer zone and its status. The consultative document "A draft management plan for New Lanark" questions whether the term buffer zone' should be used at all as nearby residents find it negative, while South Lanarkshire's "New Lanark and Falls of Clyde Conservation Area Character Appraisal" document omitted some of the buffer zone.
"The failure to include large sections of the buffer zone in the area for protection is very worrying," said Ed.
"This quarry plan goes totally against one of the main reasons for the granting of World Heritage status, which is New Lanark's landscape setting; the landscape setting is of particular importance to any heritage site."
That draft plan also raised the question of funding for the village given the economic climate and public spending cutbacks.
"Robert Owen is far more important internationally than Robert Burns and Walter Scott," said Ed.
"If it can find £20 million to support Robert Burns and £10 million to support Abbotsford, the question for the Scottish government is why can't it find alternative funding for New Lanark to ensure that it remains the iconic place it is in the history of the Scottish nation?"
 Retired planner Crawford Fulton is also worried about the quarry proposals.
"The whole idea of a buffer zone is to protect a World Heritage Site," he said. "The danger is, and this could be very important for New Lanark, if Unesco decides the quarry compromises the integrity of New Lanark and withdraws the title."
Living in Braxfield Road he is aware of the buses carrying foreign visitors down to the conservation village and, he added: "The World Heritage status matters to the financial viability of the place. You mess around with the environs of New Lanark at your peril."
The quarry would also be visible to those walking from the Clyde Walkway to Robiesland.
Click on the link below for the LAWHF (Local Authority World Heritage Forum) website New Lanark page CRAG Annual General Meeting 29/5/11 10 May 2011 The CRAG Annual General Meeting will take place on Sunday 29th May in Coulter Hall, Coulter at 7pm.
All CRAG supporters are invited.
Click link below for map (arrow denotes location of hall) View All Stories |
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