Protesters occupy wood amid fears of mining plan

ABOUT 30 protesters have taken direct action to try to prevent a wood being cut down to make way for an opencast coal mine.

Activists last night occupied part of Happendon Wood, near Douglas in Lanarkshire, and hoisted banners proclaiming "No Opencast Here".

Scottish Coal, part of the Scottish Resources Group, has yet to publicly declare its interest in setting up an opencast mine in the wood, but members of the local community are concerned that there are plans to develop mining interests there.

,Sam Macdonald, a member of campaign group Coal Action Scotland, said: "We are expecting numbers to swell over the next few days as the site has been occupied.

"There are 12 opencast mines in South Lanarkshire, with many in Douglas Valley, and local communities in the area have been resisting new coal developments very strongly over the last few years."

The site is owned by Scottish Coal and the company has not sealed it off.

Coal Action Scotland was launched in 2008 to challenge new mining developments.