Halton Lea Gate is a small village in

Northumberland Northumberland ( ) is a ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in North East England, on the Anglo-Scottish border, border with Scotland. It is bordered by the North Sea to the east, Tyne and Wear and County Durham to the south, Cumb ...

, England, on the

A689 road The A689 is a road in northern England that runs east from the A595, to the west of Carlisle in Cumbria, to Hartlepool in County Durham. The road begins west of Carlisle, just outside the city at the A595. The initial stretch was recently co ...

close to the boundary of the counties of Northumberland and

Cumbria Cumbria ( ) is a ceremonial county in North West England. It borders the Scottish council areas of Dumfries and Galloway and Scottish Borders to the north, Northumberland and County Durham to the east, North Yorkshire to the south-east, Lancash ...

. The village is part of the parish council area called Hartleyburn, and borders the

North Pennines The North Pennines are the northernmost section of the Pennines, a range of hills which run north–south through northern England. They run along the border between County Durham and Northumberland in the east and Cumbria in the west, and are ...

Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty (AONB). Halton Lea Farm has a Grade II listed farmhouse, the eastern end of which probably represents a large bastle. The

Pennine Way The Pennine Way is a National Trail in England, with a small section in Scotland. The trail stretches for from Edale, in the northern Derbyshire Peak District, north through the Yorkshire Dales and Northumberland National Park and ends at Kir ...

long-distance footpath runs just to the east of the village. The population of Halton Lea Gate was 310 in 1901. The area was subject to extensive coal mining activity in the nineteenth century, with a later phase of mining being undertaken from the 1930s to 1958.

Coal mining controversy

The area has featured in the national news on account of plans to develop open cast coal mining adjacent to the village. A plan submitted in 2008 led to speculation in the local media that property values would drop by 40% as a result. The plan submitted by HM Project Developments Ltd in November 2010 was to extract approximately 140,000 tonnes of coal; with the nearest housing to the mining extraction being just under 60 metres away. In May 2012 the UK government Planning Inspector, Clive Sproule, held an inquiry into this proposal, after the County Council had rejected applications to develop the site. The inquiry sat for nine days between 15–31 May. On 7 August the Planning Inspector published his decision. The appeal by HM Project Developments Ltd against the decision of the Northumberland County Council was allowed provided a schedule of conditions could be met. A notable person absent from the inquiry was Dr Dick van Steenis, a retired GP, whose presence at other inquiries to give evidence of the link between open cast mining and reduced life expectation and other health problems, had previously led to the blocking of many open-cast mines. Hartleyburn Parish Council then sought a judicial review of the Planning Inspector's decision. Hartleyburn Parish Council's challenge to the Inspector's decision was dismissed by Judge Brehens sitting in the High Court in Leeds. Following the Planning Inspector's decision, an amended application was submitted by HM Project Developments Ltd to Northumberland County Council. This application was recommended for acceptance by the County Council Planning Case Officer and was approved by the Planning and Environment Committee of the County Council on 7 January 2014. Extraction of coal commenced in 2016. The success of the application to open cast coal mine at Halton Lea Gate has opened up the possibility of further mining applications in places like Lambley and Coanwood, where applications have previously been refused. The current

National Planning Policy Framework The National Planning Policy Framework (NPPF) is a land-use planning policy in England. It was originally published by the UK's Department of Communities and Local Government in March 2012, consolidating over two dozen previously issued documen ...

allows national interest to overrule local decisions in respect of mineral resources.National Planning Policy Framework (2012) https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/national-planning-policy-framework--2

References

{{Authority control Coal mining in England Open-pit mines Villages in Northumberland