I was already researching a potential series for BBC4 about the National Parks of Great Britain when I heard about the gold mine application in Loch Lomond.

The human cost of coal mining and the price paid by miners in sickness, injury and disability is being studied in a new £1m research project. Findings from the five-year programme will "challenge understandings of disability", claim academics.

Environmental campaigners are still waiting to be evicted from a site near an opencast mine in Shropshire, a month after an eviction notice was served. UK Coal applied to mine New Works near the Wrekin area of outstanding natural beauty in Telford over 32 months. Some residents objected but permission was granted by a planning inspector in October 2009 after a public inquiry. Protesters set up illegal camps on the site in March 2010. UK Coal's eviction notice gave them until 5 July to leave.