GIMME FIFE

Twenty five activists occupied the site of the Blair House Open Cast Coal Site last Sunday (21st). The campaigners have put up nets, platforms and tree houses and barricaded the access road with the aid of a scaffolding tripod. Contractors have persevered with the felling of the birch and oak forest mere metres from the camp. The occupation is the second of its kind in recent weeks (see SchNEWS 714). The new coal mine is one of twenty to have recently been granted permission to mutilate Scotland.

On Thursday morning, the Dunfermline Sheriff Court responded by swiftly handing the camp its eviction summons, with notice to appear in court the following Monday.

Fife Council has given permission to UK Coal to mine 720,000 tonnes of coal from the site- a decision that more than 150 local residents oppose. This process was supposed to pass unnoticed by the majority of the local populace. Notifications were only sent out to people living within a 90m radius of the site - as if they will be the only ones affected.

The activists, supported by the local populace, are opposing the destruction of the natural landscape the mining will cause as it goes ahead, not to mention the noise, pollution, the detrimental effect on health, increased traffic, the destruction of native wildlife and of course the effects on climate change that creep closer each passing day.

* Get involved - site no 07806926040 or see www.coalactionscotland.noflag.org.uk