Fly the flag for South Crofty campaign

On 22 and 23 June 2006, nearly 17,000 South Crofty leaflets and posters will drop through people’s letterboxes in the Camborne, Pool, Redruth area.  The aim of the exercise is to draw attention to the frustrating series of delays that is hampering progress towards full tin extraction at the mine and to get local people’s support for all that we are trying to do.

We want people to be aware that we are as determined as ever to bring mining prosperity and pride back to Cornwall.  Local bureaucrats, however, seem equally intent on making sure that mining does not take place.  Why else, after three and a half years, has our Review of Mineral Planning Permissions application still not been agreed and why do we continually have to resort to legal processes to protect the mine’s ventilation shafts and associated mineral deposits?

Why does the Camborne Pool Redruth Regeneration Company choose to utter empty threats about compulsory purchase orders (which they have no authority to issue anyway) on live television - on the very day that we are proudly showing off the equipment, worth hundreds of thousands of pounds, that has just been bought from Wheal Jane tin mine? Surely they should have been applauding this very visible sign of progress?  Unless, of course, they don’t want a working mine in Pool at all… 

We feel that it is now time to tell the world why we are feeling so angry.  We want to mine tin, create hundreds of jobs and regenerate the South Crofty site but, despite the millions of pounds of private money that we have so far invested in this venture, we are continually confronted by obstacles.  Not only that, the obstacles are being funded by public money – taxpayers money – your money.  Where on earth is the sense in that?

We are appealing to you for support.  Show the local authorities that you agree with what we are trying to do.  That you want them to get off our backs and help us – not hinder us.  That you believe we should be given a fair chance.

Stick your poster in a prominent window, badger your MP and local councillors and email us at: baseresult@btconnect.com

with your comments.  We want your help and we need your trust.

FAQs

Why aren’t we extracting tin?

Because instead of being able to get on with the job of mining we are being constantly sidetracked by endless amounts of paperwork.

Existing planning permissions allow mining until 2042 and when we bought the mine in June 2001 we were led to believe that Cornwall County Council, as the Mineral Planning Authority (MPA), would not require us to submit a Review of Mineral Planning Permissions (ROMPs), until the mine became fully operational.

Unfortunately that was not the case.  In September 2002, the council demanded that we make a ROMPs application.  Not only that, they gave us a six month deadline to complete it – a review of all existing permissions covering over 30 acres of surface land and 1260 acres underground.  The detailed analysis that the ROMPs application demanded required all our time, energy and resources but we managed it – just.  Days later, however, council officers had managed to read the hundreds of pages in sufficient detail to make a formal request for further particulars.

Those particulars took us a year – a year which could have been spent preparing for tin extraction – but we did it, submitting a second report on 30 April 2004.  In September 2004, we got the council’s response. They wanted even more details. Frustrated but still determined, we spent another three months getting the information together – submitting it by the 30 December deadline.  Ten months later, in October 2005, we were asked to provide yet amore complex data – despite being told in August that the MPA was satisfied with the details submitted.

We have now been working on ROMPs submissions for three and a half years!

Why is South Crofty still such an eyesore?

Because we want to transform the South Crofty surface area but the Kerrier District Council wouldn’t determine the outline planning application.

We are looking at moving the majority of the surface mining works to the land area around the Tuckingmill Decline.  At eighty feet lower than the rest of the site, it will mean that the site operations will be barely visible.  It also means that 27 acres of land can be freed up for regeneration and development.

As owners of the land, we are responsible for its restoration.  If we operate the mine as past owners have, using the whole of the site, that restoration would have come when the mine’s mineral deposits had been exhausted – in about 80 years time.

Since our plans reduce the amount of surface required, phased restoration can only happen in conjunction with mine operations.  We need to work with a developer who understands what needs to be done and who will work with us all the way.  That is why we found a suitably experienced developer with the vision to work with us and why agreements were reached before Crofty Developments Ltd submitted an outline planning application.

Our vision is to create a sustainable urban village on land that is currently an eyesore.  We know how important it is to fit in with local regeneration requirements but, sadly, our efforts to discuss our plans with the powers-that-be have largely been rebuffed.  Confusion is feigned – with claims that the ROMPs and the surface planning applications conflict.  The ROMPs was submitted a year before the surface application.  The very nature of ROMPs means a review of the existing permissions.  Where is the confusion?

Having first submitted the outline planning application to Kerrier District Council in February 2004, we were forced to go to appeal in September 2005 because of the Authority’s failure to determine the application.  The appeal date has been set for 6 September 2006.

Why are we feeling frustrated?

Because we are fed up with having to fight endless battles with local planners, the local authorities and the local quangos.

Mining was the life-blood of Cornwall for centuries yet today’s public sector chiefs seem intent on squashing our genuine aim to revive it as an industry.

Not only are we being submerged by vast quantities of red tape that prevent us from moving forward at the pace we would like, we are also being forced to safeguard our interests by regularly resorting to the law.

Did you know, for example, that Kerrier Distrcit Council granted a planning approval which would have allowed the capping of Davies mineshaft at Barncoose without consulting us? We went to judicial review on the matter and the Council was found to have acted irresponsibly.  £17,000 of your money as taxpayers went towards paying the costs of the judgment against them – this on top of Kerrier’s own costs!

Lessons had clearly been learnt when the next mineshaft was targeted.  English Partnerships didn’t make a planning application to permanently cap Trevenson Shaft.  They just went ahead and did it.  We are now fighting for this vital ventilation shaft to be restored.  You can see the excavation for yourself when you leave the A30 and head into Pool.

How long have we owned South Crofty?

We have owned the South Crofty site since 29 June 2001.

How much money have we so far spent?

We have invested around £5 million so far.  That money has been spent preparing for the day, hopefully soon, when we will once again start full tin production.

Why should we succeed in operating South Crofty as a profitable commercial tin mine when previous owners have failed?

Because we are going to use new working processes - tried and tested in other mines around the world – which will maintain pre-closure production levels and still cut production costs by 30%.

How can you help?

By letting your councillors and MP know that you want them to let us get on with our job of preparing the mine for full tin production. 

By telling them that you believe tin is regeneration.

By demanding that the local government bodies stop wasting public money on empty gestures and threats and start talking to us properly.

By displaying your poster and flying the flag for South Crofty!

Come along to our Open Day on Saturday 8 July

We are holding an open day on Saturday 8 July from 10am to 4pm.  As well as being a FREE fun day out for all the family – with a bouncy castle, face-painting,  a tin smelting display, demonstration of mine loading equipment and free underground tours (limited spaces) plus more. Refreshments will be available – it will provide a golden opportunity for local people to look at our plans and discuss them with our staff.  Everyone is welcome.