The BMC is calling on people to write to their local MPs after a
High Court judge reversed the planning inspector's decision to block
further quarrying at Longstone Edge in the Peak District - below.
Effectively this means that the quarry owners can now extract as
much limestone from the quarry as they want as long as some fluorspar
is also extracted. That's bad news for Longstone Edge, but it may
also have wider implications with old mineral pemissions potentially
allowing quarrying companies to extract rock elsewhere in Britain's
National Parks.
The Peak District National Park Authority has now agreed to appeal
against the decision at the Court of Appeal with support from a
coalition of environmental and amenity groups including he 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
Write To Your MP
The BMC is asking you to write to your MP expressing your concerns
and asking them to write, in turn, to the Secretary of State for
DEFRA, Hilary Benn.
There's a downloadable protest letter here
on the BMC web site, and you can find more details at www.thebmc.co.uk.
