allerdale has done nothing to replace proper industry in west cumbria,so lets have a opencast, and coalwash, in fact lets have a coalfired power station, some of us dont want to work in retail outlets or coffee shops.oh, and i live in sight of the site, and i care not a jot, the area has recovered from previous sites.

I think that the Broughton dump should be made into some historical site where people could be shown around the site in a safe way and see what happened that would make more money than any of these other rubbish ideas

I feel compelled to respond to gw. I am not aware of all the fact regarding this project to be able to reasonably decide whether opencast mining would be the best clean up method for this land or not. I do know however that UK opencast mining methods and associated environmental conrols are industry best standards compared to anywhere else in the world.So if the alternative is to buy coal from Russia, Columbia,Indonesia or elsewhere etc then the carbon footprint will always be less for UK mined and burned coals. I would remind gw that the Broughton area has been extensivesly opencast mined over the last 30-40 years and villages have not been destroyed, they still exist dont they ?, this is scaremongering, in fact family life for opencast workers would be better than for the many Cumbrian opencast workers who must travel outside the county to earn a living, often living in caravans near far away mine sites and only coming home to their families at weekends (and there are many). The land would be much better post mining than it is now, it would not be destroyed, look at previously mined areas. Wildlife actuals lives well on inactive parts of opencast mines.I have person experience of this gained over many years. Mining work is only temporary and the final land profile and soil quality will be first class as all work would designed and controlled like any other earthworks project. Health issues associated with surface coal mining is another unsubstantiated scaremonging tactic used by 'the greens'. There has never been one claim for respiratory health issues made by any opencast worker in the UK, and they are the people working closest to 'the mine'.

I agree with Mark it should be kept as natural as possible and let the wild remain wild and be enjoyed by walks via natural tracks etc. There are not enough places like this in their natural glory left untouched and I think this site should be.

Nick Fardon has only followed instructions from his bosses to bring this into the open. He is seen as the good man being honest whilst saving the shame of those left when it has to be made official. I have attended meetings where it has been said no permission will be given for opencast but in the next breath leave open the option to sell to the highest bidder. This committee would not allow a local voice onto the panel despite objections. There are organisations out there like the Utropia project who could develop the land without destroying it and have plans laid out to do so, so why are Allerdale so intent on the eBay culture to maximise profits with least hassle. YOU WILL HAVE A FIGHT

Why not keep the site as is, it is apparently teeming with wildlife as it has been so undisturbed for so long, put trials through it and turn it into a SSI Clints quarry at Egremont is a great example of this.

Sad but it has to happen. In this energy starved world we cannot allow this coal to be left in the ground.
Sadder still is the fact that we all know Allerdale Council will do its usual brilliant botch up and waste the money.

Outrageous, this site is for development, not destruction. Ruin the vilages around in the name of profit, not the way to go. Environmentally unfriendly, big health hazard, goes against all the current thinking on climate change.
Time for protest and petitions, save your villages.

By all means develop the area, but not opencast mining, please. It goes against all thing environmental, it ruins the landscape, it will ruin Broughton and other villages round about, it will destroy the wildlife currently on the site. Now is the time to set up action groups, before it`s too late