OPEN CAST COAL MINING

Motion Text

That this House notes the local opposition which often spontaneously arises in communities close to planning applications for open cast coal mining; acknowledges the local environmental, health and economic damage which such mining can cause; recalls the ease with which the Conservative Government enabled such planning applications to be approved at Secretary of State level in opposition to local wishes; remembers with pleasure the Labour Party's 10 point plan to give local communities the capacity successfully to oppose open casting; and congratulates the Government in implementing the substantive content of that plan, which has resulted in the refusal of consent to a massive and unwanted open cast site close to Crofton in the constituency of Hemsworth.