Hive Lound Limited have now submitted their planning application to Nottinghamshire County Council Minerals Planning Authority (MPA) to strip mine in the vicinity of Bellmoor Sutton cum Lound. That application involves an extraction and processing of pulverised fuel ash (PFA) that was originally deposited at Bellmoor some 40 years or so ago. The PFA was pumped to Bellmoor as a suspension of fine ash in water carried in a pipeline from Cottam Power Station, settled out in lagoons at Bellmoor and subsequently grassed over. The ash is a residue/waste from the combustion of fine coal (pulverised fuel, PF) at the Power Station. There are an estimated 6 million tonnes of PFA at Bellmoor that would if the proposal is accepted be extracted over 25 years. The application as submitted by Hive Lound Limited is now live on the NCC planning portal, link below. The description of the works reads as follows:
The extraction, processing and export of pulverised fuel ash from former ash disposal lagoons and their progressive restoration, and associated development including earthworks, dewatering and soil storage, ponds and excavations, hard and soft surfacing and landscaping and boundary treatment, buildings and structures, plant, conveyors, utility connections, roadways, parking, drainage, and ancillary development.
This is a proposal for works of a significant nature that will have an impact on the Parish. We suggest that you take some time to digest and consider if you have comments or suggestions to make to the MPA when the consultation starts from 6th April 2023.
Link to application on NCC portal, click here.
Image below of PFA Stripmine Operation, Gale Common, Selby, Yorkshire