RA joins coalition to save National Parks from mining devastation
17 April 2008
A major new coalition of national and local environmental and amenity groups1, including the British Mountaineering Council, the Council for National Parks, the Campaign to Protect Rural England, Friends of the Earth, Friends of the Peak District, Plantlife, the Ramblers’ Association and the Save Longstone Edge Group today called on Government ministers to step in and save the Peak District from uncontrolled quarrying.
The coalition has formed in the wake of a
recent High Court judgment which overturned a public inquiry
decision in 2007 in which a Government planning inspector had
ruled that excessive limestone quarrying at Backdale Quarry on
Longstone Edge was illegal and must cease2. The High Court
judgment has reversed this finding and instead allows
potentially uncontrolled limestone extraction which threatens to
remove nearly all of the 350 hectare, eastern end of the noted
beauty spot. Local residents are horrified at the impact this
could have on recreation, tourism and wildlife. The judgment
could also act as a precedent, allowing increased damage at
other quarries both in the Peak District and beyond.
A coalition spokesperson, Ruth Chambers, Deputy Chief Executive
of the Council for National Parks, said “Quarries like Backdale,
whose planning permission dates from the 1950s, can cause
enormous environmental damage to the countryside if they are not
subject to modern environmental standards. This case must now be
regarded as a priority for Government intervention if landscape
protection in our National Parks is not to be made a laughing
stock”.
The groups have called on Hazel Blears, Secretary of State for
planning to challenge the High Court decision and for Hilary
Benn, Secretary of State at DEFRA (responsible for National
Parks) to provide substantial financial resources to allow the
Peak District National Park Authority to exercise its powers to
revoke the permission and pay compensation to the landowner and
quarry company if necessary.
Dr Steve Furness, a local resident and long time member of the
Save Longstone Edge Group, added: “Unfortunately, local planning
powers have failed us so far and so we implore anyone who loves
the Peak District to write to MPs and the Ministers concerned to
ensure a permanent solution is found quickly. Otherwise we will
lose the Edge we love forever”.