Rural worry over new opencast mining rules
Dec 29 2008 by Dave Black, The Journal
SPECIAL protection zones aimed at safeguarding Northumberland communities and landscapes from the impacts of opencast mining are set to be scaled down in the wake of criticism from Government planning experts.
Four opencast coal constraint areas – where mining is actively discouraged for regeneration or landscape reasons – were officially designated several years ago in a bid to protect sensitive parts of the county from being damaged by the industry.
Now they are almost certain to be scaled down and altered as part of a major policy review, in a move which will heighten concerns that more of Northumberland could be ripped up by surface mining.
The four current constraint areas cover the North Pennines Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty, the Tyne/Derwent watershed, the coastline including Druridge Bay and urban south-east Northumberland.
The North Pennines AONB is likely to survive because it is also protected by national planning policies, but the south-east Northumberland zone has been hit by two recent approvals for opencast mines near major towns. The Government approved the Shotton site at Cramlington against the wishes of the county council and hundreds of local residents – a decision which then virtually forced councillors to agree opencasting at Potland Burn, Ashington, which is part of the same constraint area.
It is now under review, along with the three other constraint areas to see whether planners can continue to justify the policy.
The review has been launched after Government planning inspector Jonathan King – supported by the Government Office North East – ruled earlier this year that the county’s new minerals planning blueprint was “unsound”.
He questioned the justification for continuing with the policy of opencast constraint areas, which are based on 10-year-old evidence. Now Northumberland’s senior planner has admitted that the four constraint areas cannot survive in their current form.
County council head of planning strategy, Gordon Halliday, said: “It is clear that the current opencast constraint areas cannot continue because they are too extensively drawn. We don’t have the evidence to justify such a blanket restriction across south-east Northumberland, although the other three areas could remain.”
'No long term damage to sensitive areas'
BRITAIN’S biggest mining company has questioned the need for coal constraint zones – except in areas of outstanding landscape or scientific interest.
UK Coal says modern mining and restoration techniques mean opencasting can be carried out even in sensitive areas without causing any long-term damage.
Spokesman Stuart Oliver said: "Obviously we are aware of the need to protect sensitive places, such as areas of special scientific interest, but we don’t believe that many other areas should be so classified.
"The quality of restoration these days can justify the recovery of a national asset like coal.
"People want energy and the lights to come on at the flick of a switch, so we need to produce our own coal.
"Rather than official coal constraint areas, we would prefer to see each mining application judged on its merits."
