Our view
A presumption in favour of opencast?
In 1999, after decades of CPRE campaigning, paragraph 8 of the Government’s Minerals Planning Guidance 3 stated that ‘the Government believes there should normally be a presumption against (coal extraction) development, subject to tests on environmental acceptability’. While a welcome commitment in itself, this was watered down from CPRE’s initial demands that opencast developments should bring environmental and community benefits, and not just be ‘acceptable’.
This change in Government policy did have the desired effect as UK opencast coal production fell for a number of years, but there has a recent rend in favour of extraction, with fewer applications rejected locally and rejections that are made subsequently overturned by the last government. We are concerned that this approach now means that councils are increasingly likely to approve initial applications (often against public opinion and environmental evidence) rather than incur the potentially enormous expense of inquiries and appeals.
The last six opencast applications in England to be refused by local councils were subsequently granted by Labour's Secretary of State for Communities, despite official minerals planning guidance stating: ‘the Government believes there should normally be a presumption against (coal extraction) development, subject to tests on environmental acceptability’. We hope the coalition Government will distance itself from this short-sighted policy and make it clear that ripping up landscapes for short-term supplies of new coal is not be "environmentally acceptable".
The local MP for the Minorca site in Leicestershire, Andrew Bridgen, is campaigning for legislation to introduce a buffer zone to protect communities from the damaging effects of opencasting - something which is already in place in Scotland and Wales. CPRE agree that communities in England should have the same protection from the noise, dust and loss of landscape which can severely erode quality of life. However, we feel the best way to protect communities is to uphold the planning policy against opencast coal on the grounds that the damage to the environment - and quality of life - cannot be outweighed by the benefits of the coal.
Alternatives to opencast
Fossil fuels are not a long term solution. Though indigenous coal became relatively cheap in the last decade, there is no longer an economic case for new coal - natural gas has become cheaper leading to stockpiles of coal. Continuing to use existing deep mined supplies until they can be phased out is one thing, but tearing up the landscape for new coal is unacceptable in these circumstances.
The Government is right to single out energy efficiency as the starting point for reducing the need for fossil fuels. They have made a welcome progress in beginning to force businesses and the public sector to stop wasting energy, while giving the public incentives and opportunities to reduce energy consumption in the home.
They must also invest wisely in a genuine mix of renewables, building on Britain’s world leader status in offshore wind - the most abundant and reliable source for the UK, which in the long-term could be linked to a pan-European renewables grid that wouldn't rely on fossil fuel back-up.
Small scale renewables will also play a part by supplying individual homes or communities, rather than feeding into an ageing and inefficient national grid - solar panels are getting better all the time, and the Friends of the Peak District CPRE branch has recently highlighted the potential of small-scale hydro power for rivers and streams with their Peak Power report. We also need to catch up with countries like Germany in terms of converting waste to heat and energy through anaerobic digestion and mechanical-biological treatment for waste that can't be reused or recycled.
The latest news on opencast coal mining
Leicestershire
CPRE are backing the campaign against the Minorca opencast proposal to ‘surface mine’ 1.25 million tonnes of coal and 250,000 tonnes of fireclay from a 130 hectare site within the National Forest boundary. The area had been selected as worthy of conservation as part of the variety of landscapes intended to make up the forest.
