tough new measures to control blasting at opencast mining sites are to be introduced by East Ayrshire Council following an incident in Muirkirk last week in which a girl was injured when a controlled explosion at a LAW Mining site sent debris into the streets.
Kayleigh Gibson, 6, was playing near her home in Lapraic Avenue, and was slightly injured when struck on the head by a piece of stone. The incident has heightened tensions after years of campaigning by people in Ayrshire and Lanarkshire against the growth of opencast coal mining, and led to immediate calls for action against the mine operator.
The council has decided the distance between blasting operations and housing should be increased by 500 metres, to 600 metres.
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