From The "Sunday Herald" 04 July 2004

Relatives of miners killed in a pit disaster more than 80 years ago fear that plans by a company owned by Rangers boss David Murray to extend Scotland’s largest opencast mine could unearth their bodies. “After all this time it should be left as it is,” Jean Blades, 75, told the Sunday Herald. Three of Blades’s uncles were buried alive in the disaster at Stanrigg pit near Greengairs on July 9, 1918, one of Scotland’s worst. “Nobody should be allowed to go anywhere near the area. It’s consecrated ground and the bodies should be left in peace.’’

Plans for the extension to the Drumshangie mine in North Lanarkshire have been drawn up by GM Mining, a subsidiary of Murray International Holdings, chaired by the Scottish business tycoon David Murray. Managers at Drumshangie have given a “categorical guarantee” that no bodies will be disturbed.

Some survivors’ relatives, though, remain worried. May Davies, who is over 80 and lost her uncles in the disaster, said: “On no account should anyone be allowed to go anywhere near the graveyard.”

Nineteen miners died at Stanrigg when two weeks’ rain waterlogged the moss on top of the mine, causing the shafts to flood , and trapping men underground. Eight bodies were re cov ered; the 11 left underground are commemorated by memorials at the site, which is regarded as a graveyard.

The Drumshangie opencast mine, which covers about 500 hectares, is next to Stanrigg, and extracts coal from the same seam. Permission was granted by North Lanarkshire Council for an extension under a road that leads towards Stanrigg.

Blades and Davies are supported by Angus MacArthur, 69, a retired miner who led the campaign years ago to erect the Stanrigg memorials. He has no doubt that the extension will disturb the old mine: “It will definitely interfere with it. It will be upsetting. As far as I’m concerned, it’s a bad idea.”

Relatives have been backed by environmental groups, who have demanded that GM Mining abandon its plans. According to Friends of the Earth Scotland, the nearby villages of Greengairs and Watt ston are surrounded by nine open cast sites and waste dumps.

“For decades they have been suffering from noise, dust, foul smells and flies. It is unbelievable that residents are now being targeted for yet another environmental injustice,” said Dr Dan Barlow, head of research with the environmental group.

“Given that the proposed area of working is but a pimple compared with the whole Drum shangie site, the decent thing to do would be to respect the community’s wishes and leave the consecrated ground alone.”

Barlow said that the proposed extension comes after the Scottish Executive gave the go-ahead in February to a new landfill site at nearby Dalmacoulter. This was despite a promise two years ago by First Minister Jack McConnell to fight environmental injustice in Greengairs.

GM Mining, however, insisted that the extension would not intrude on the Stanrigg pit. “It’s nowhere near where the bodies are buried,” the company’s planning manager, Gregor Ferguson, told the Sunday Herald.

“We can give a categorical guarantee that the proposed mining will not disturb the bodies buried as a result of the Stanrigg mining disaster.”

He said that the opencast extension was at least 800 metres away from the old deep mine. They were also separated by a 24m geological fault that had broken the seam of coal.

GM Mining, which is planning to close Drumshangie at the end of next year, has also promised to refurbish the Stanrigg memorials with some landscaping, planting and fencing. “It is upsetting when people get hold of the wrong end of the stick,” said Ferguson.

Although the company has been given planning consent for the extension, it can’t go ahead until it also has permission to close the Stanrigg road. Because of objections, that is due to be the subject of a public inquiry on July 28.

According to North Lanarkshire Council, the extension is “at least 600 metres” from the Stanrigg mine and memorials. Concerns about disturbing the site were highlighted in the report that officials put to the council’s planning committee.

Council planning team leader Marie Lalor said: “The council is sensitive to the concerns of the local people and has ensured, prior to granting planning permission, that the site of the mining disaster is well away from the working area.”

Jim Marshall, from the nearby village Glenmavis, lost his uncle, William Marshall, in the disaster. He was lucky not to lose his father too, who happened not to be down the mine on the day of the tragedy.

Last week Marshall was unsure whether it would be a good idea to permit the extension. He said most local people would be against it if it were done “willy-nilly”. But if it were going to go ahead, there was one way that something positive might come of it: “It would be a good idea if they looked for the men and gave them a proper Christian burial.”