UK Coal evicts protesters from Shropshire opencast site

UK COAL has successfully evicted a group of protesters from a proposed opencast site in Shropshire.

The company successfully secured an eviction notice against the campaigners, who have been illegally camped at the New Works site, near to the Wrekin area of outstanding natural beauty since March last year.

UK Coal had originally applied to mine the site in Telford around four years ago. The eviction notice secured through the courts had given the protesters until July 5 to leave the site.

Residents living near the site had originally protested against the decision to allow the firm to mine the land and the protesters moved in shortly afterwards.

After securing the eviction notice, UK Coal appointed UK Evict to carry out the removal of the protesters. Police attended the scene and had to ensure the protesters had not tunnelled under the land in a bid to avoid being removed.

It is thought the protesters have done little to disrupt the site other than occupy the land. Nevertheless, UK Coal is to carry out a full inspection of the site to ensure everything is safe.

It is estimated the site could yield around 900,000 tonnes of coal.