The Plan for Coal and the Selby Project
Throughout the 1960s and early 1970s the reliance on cheap oil was accepted as one of the prime sources of energy for the U.K. The National Coal Board were vocal in criticising this rationale as the OPEC countries had made it quite obvious they were pressing on with a program of maximising revenue from the oil by increasing prices dramatically in the future. The N.C.B. were also questioning the long term viability of the Nuclear Industry due to excessive cost and uncertain technologies. The suggestions and plans were made by the N.C.B. for a long term strategy for the coal industry. The plan involved increasing coal production and replacing older working collieries with new, highly efficient mines. This plan was conceived due to the increase in efficiency and concentration on productivity from modern coal face design and increased mechanisation at existing collieries.
Over a three year period from June 1970 ‘the price of Saudi Arabian light crude oil rose 1.80 dollars a barrel to 11.65 dollars, representing an increase of 547 per cent’. (Arnold and Cole, 1981, p. 14). These prices were dramatic and were a direct side effect of the Yom Kippur War in 1973. This war created serious problems for the UK by quadrupling oil prices, an increase of £2bn to the oil import costs. The government had already started on a massive North Sea oil exploration investment but a plan for the coal industry had to be formulated to create a flexible energy policy. This was called The Plan For Coal 1974 and the Selby Project was to be a substantial part of the plan.
The Plan for Coal was designed to sustain the output from British mines in the 1970s and to increase production during the 1980s. The target set by the N.C.B. in the 1970s was to produce 135 million tonnes of coal by 1985. The deep mines were to produce 120 million tonnes, with opencast mines to top up production by 15 million tonnes. This target had a built in replacement of old capacity and a creation of new capacity of 42 million tonnes. This was to be achieved by sinking new mines, reconstruction of long life collieries and extending short life collieries by finding new reserves. ‘The cost of this new future for coal was estimated at £1,510 million (at September 1973 prices) and a major share would be devoted to the proposed Selby Project’ (Arnold and Cole, 1981, p.15)
After the Plan for Coal 1974 became government policy it became obvious 10 million tonnes of the 20 million tonnes of new capacity was to be the Selby Project and the planning permission was to be submitted as soon as possible.
When the N.C.B.’s planning permission to the North Yorkshire County Council was submitted on 7th August 1974 the new mine had already been discussed by the local community. The scale and breadth of the planning permission surprised the local communities, councils, local committees and planning authorities and a public enquiry was the obvious outcome.
Bibliography
Arnold, P. and Cole, I., 1981. The Development Of The Selby Coalfield. [Heslington, Yorkshire]: [Selby Research Project, Dept. of Social Administration and Social Work, University of York].
Selby Superpit 