Martyn Jones MP expresses his disappointment at local planning decision.”

2nd October 2007

Martyn Jones MP has expressed his disappointment following the decision of Wrexham County Council’s Planning Committee (Taken 1 October) to prevent the development of Bersham Colliery Tip. The motivation for the council’s decision was sustaining, ‘appreciation of the development of north east Wales’.

Mr Jones stated: “This region of Wales has a past it should be incredibly proud of and it should be remembered, but refusing this planning bid will not help defend our region’s history. The planning proposal allowed for crucial parts of the site, such as the pit head winding gear to be maintained and even proposed financial support to preserve the listed buildings on the site. The tip itself obscures these features and it is these buildings and this gear that are the vital remnants of our ancestry and worth preserving. North Wales has more to recommend its rich past than a dump site”.

“I am surprised and disappointed that CADW has objected to this proposal, especially when they raised no objection when several hundred thousand tonnes was removed from the site in the past for construction of the A483 in the 1980’s.”

“Allowing industry to use the shale found on the site would have created jobs and prosperity in the region during the lengthy time that extraction would have taken. Instead we have allowed marginal parts of our past to blinker our present day efforts for growth and it is the people of today who will miss out on the opportunity”.