As the Government’s consultation on clean coal closes [1], the Campaign to Protect Rural England (CPRE) [2] questions its commitment to move away from dirty coal to renewables.

Since 1999, the Government has approved 120 new opencast coal mines, often overruling local councils [3]. And since 2003, it has spent 20 times more on extending coal mining than on marine renewables, spending just 5% of its marine renewables budget [4].

CPRE considers opencast mining to be highly damaging to landscapes, local communities and wildlife, and our efforts to reduce carbon emissions.

If the UK is to move away from unsustainable energy sources like coal that damage our countryside and the planet, the Government must spend the money it has budgeted for clean energy sources.

Dustin Benton, CPRE campaigner said:

'‘Clean coal’ still depends on dirty coal mining – it can only be a stopgap while genuinely low-carbon energy sources are developed. We want the Government to stop funding and approving new opencast coal mining and to start investing in sustainable, renewable marine energy.'

'To demonstrate the Government’s commitment to reducing carbon emissions and valuing local democracy, we are urging the Secretary of State, John Denham, to reject an application for a massive new opencast coal mine in Shropshire [5].'

'The Huntington Lane opencast mine near Telford will destroy 230 acres of greenfield land and encroach on an Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty, at a time when the coal industry already has permission to extract 71 million tonnes of coal from existing mines', concluded Mr Benton.

CPRE is asking everyone to join its call for joined-up Government and strong leadership. Put pressure on the Government - send an email to John Denham, Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, and Ed Miliband, Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change: http://www.cpre.org.uk/actioncoal.

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NOTES FOR EDITORS

1. The consultation closes at 5pm, Wednesday 9 September: http://decc.gov.uk/en/content/cms/consultations/clean_coal/clean_coal.aspx. Further information on CPRE’s position on opencast coal mining can be found on our website (our response to the consultation will be available from 9 September): http://www.cpre.org.uk/campaigns/natural-resources/minerals

2. CPRE, the Campaign to Protect Rural England, is a charity which promotes the beauty, tranquillity and diversity of rural England. We advocate positive solutions for the long-term future of the countryside. Founded in 1926, we have 60,000 supporters and a branch in every county. President: Bill Bryson. Patron: Her Majesty The Queen. www.cpre.org.uk

3. According to official statistics from the British Geological Survey and UK Coal, since 1999 120 opencast applications have been approved and only 26 refused. The two or so applications that are refused on average each year are inevitably called-in by the Secretary of State, Welsh Assembly or Scottish Executive and then approved regardless of local decisions.

Opencast local planning authority decisions since 1999

1998/99-2003/04 figures from UK Coal Annual Reports

2004-08 figures from the British Geological Survey

Looking at the last five years, of the 13 opencast applications that have been refused at local government level since 2004, six have been overturned nationally (one each by the Welsh Assembly and Scottish Executive and four by the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government). Of the seven that were refused and not called-in, three were just 'extensions' and one is expected to be re-submitted in a new ‘improved’ application, encouraged no doubt by the recent trend towards opencast.

If England is taken separately, there is a clear trend for local councils to be refuse permissions, only for approval to be granted at a national level:

Opencast applications in England since 2004

4. Figures for the Government’s ‘Coal Investment Aid’ programme available from http://services.parliament.uk/hansard/Commons/bydate/20090716/writtenanswers/part006.html; figures for the Government’s ‘Marine Renewables Deployment Fund’ are available from http://www.publications.parliament.uk/pa/cm200809/cmhansrd/cm090303/text/90303w0030.htm

5. This case has been ‘called-in’ for a decision by the Secretary of State, expected by 9 October, and is the fifth in England since 2006 to be referred to the Government having been previously rejected by local councils – the previous four have all been granted permission, to the bewilderment of local campaigners who cite the devastating impacts on the health of local residents, businesses and protected landscapes. For further information on the planning inquiry visit: http://www.telford.gov.uk/Environment+and+planning/Planning/Planninginquiryw2007_1648.htm
The evidence submitted by Telford and Wrekin Council and CPRE Shropshire http://www.cpreshropshire.org.uk/campaigns/natural_resources/huntington_lane_open_cast.htm
to the public inquiry could find no evidence of exceptional circumstances, and showed the negative impacts on the community would cause “significant and extensive harm”. The local parish council has petitioned the Prime Minister, with support from local MP Mark Pritchard, to implore the Secretary of State to reject the plans they say would “wreck lives, scar the landscape, and deter tourism and investment.”