What is the problem?

Despite its promises to do otherwise, the Government is using the outdated approach of 'predict and provide' to determine how many tonnes of minerals we dig from the English countryside. The Government predicts how much should be quarried on the basis of forecasts based largely on previous trends. This figure then becomes effectively a target that mineral planning authorities (mainly county councils) need to meet, whatever the cost to the environment.

Current forecasts mean that over 2.5 billion tonnes of minerals could be extracted by 2016. That's the equivalent to a hole five metres deep that takes up as much land as Birmingham! 

And the problem isn't just the quarrying or mining, which scars the landscape. The work also means lorries choking country lanes with noise and dust and shattered rural tranquillity.

CPRE believes we don't need to dig up so much countryside. There are much better ways to meet our needs and protect the landscape.