>I have not heard anymore about the subject on the Coal Authority and its
access to Britain?s
>mining heritage. Does anybody know what is going on ?
>
James,
A couple of weeks ago I met a representative of the Coal Authority, and
their consultant, to discuss the Access to Britain's Mining Heritage (ABMH)
project. The meeting was held to consider some of the reservation held by
the National Association of Mining History Organisations (NAMHO) concerning
the project. Those reservations were largely related to the poor reputation
of the Authority and its predecessor, British Coal, regarding the retention
/ preservation of both documentation and artefacts relating to the coal
industry and in recording the physical evidence of the industry during its
rapid decline in the 1980s and 90s. Of particular concern was the
relationship between the information collected and the Authority's statutory
obligations regarding access to information on ground stability and other
aspects of abandoned mine sites.
I'm happy to say that the there was a positive outcome to the meeting. The
Coal Authority have evidently divorced themselves from the past reputation.
Their actions in improving facilities at the Mansfield headquarters, in
ensuring the archiving of major coal related collections, also funding
external repositories to house the collections, and commissioning the next
volume of the History of the British Coal Industry, does suggest the
Authority is in tune with mining history interests. I was assured that the
Authority will treat the project separately from their statutory role and no
owner or custodian of material identified as a result of the project will be
obliged to provide access for the Authority or its agents.
The ABMH is, as Adam Green pointed out in an earlier message to this list,
presently only a scoping study to determine the amount of material which
might be available. I am keen to see NAMHO involved as a partner,
representing a significant sector of the mining history community, and I
have recommended we co-operate in the scoping study.
Comments from the list would be welcome.
Peter
______________________________________________
Peter Claughton, Blaenpant Morfil, Rosebush, Clynderwen,
Pembrokeshire, Wales SA66 7RE.
Tel. 01437 532578; Fax. 01437 532921; Mobile 07831 427599
University of Exeter - School of Historical, Political and Sociological Studies
(Centre for South Western Historical Studies)
E-mail: [log in to unmask]
Co-owner - mining-history e-mail discussion list.
See http://www.jiscmail.ac.uk/files/mining-history/ for details.
Mining History Pages - http://www.exeter.ac.uk/~pfclaugh/mhinf/
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