SAVE LONGSTONE EDGE

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Following our successful participation in the BBC TV 'Politics Show' last Sunday (see full programme here), over 30 hardy souls packed onto a coach at 6:30 am on Tuesday morning (24th October) for the long journey to London. Given the very short notice, and the potential complications of half-term, we think that it was an excellent turnout. Many thanks to all that took part.

All supporters of the Save Longstone Edge campaign, they were travelling to Westminster to see their MP, Patrick McLoughlin (West Derbyshire, Conservative Chief Whip), lead an adjournment debate he had secured at short notice following a recent visit to Longstone Edge with SLEG members. We did offer free seats to any members of the PDNPA who would like to attend the debate, but none took up the offer.

Over 5 hours later we were disgorged onto College Green where we met with Patrick, and interviewed by a number of TV crews who were fascinated as to why we had come all that way to promote our campaign on a national level.

Spokesperson, Malcolm Wootton from the village of Froggatt, explained that:

"The reason that we want the issue to be dealt with at a 'national' level is that the original mining permission was granted by a government minister in 1952, over the heads of the local politicians and the National Park Authority - for the government to simply keep responding (as it has for over 9 years) that: ' it is a local issue, that should be dealt with locally, and the PDNPA has all the powers at its disposal to deal with it' is patently absurd."

He continued:

"It is true that, theoretically, the PDNPA has the appropriate powers, but the necessary compensation it would probably have to pay would be the equivalent to more that their annual budget for a year - so it's clearly not a viable or helpful position for the government to take. We sincerely hope that the outcome of today's debate will be that Patrick McLoughlin convinces the Under-Secretary of State for Rural Affairs (Barry Gardiner) that it really is a national issue."

We then proceeded into the Palace of Westminster and took our seats in Westminster Hall Chamber to hear the debate (Hansard record and video available here). There were so many of us that they had to re-arrange the seating to fit us in!

It was very interesting to see and hear the opposition Chief Whip getting passionate and angry about an issue from his own constituency in an adjournment debate - we're sure that this must have carried a lot of weight with the minister.

It was also significant that Patrick stressed the urgency of the matter because of the horrendous rate of damage, and also made reference to our observation that this matter might be more easily dealt with if it weren't in a national park. This is something that we've also heard the Chief Executive of the Peak District National Park Authority mention.

For us the key outcomes of the debate were the minister's comments:

• "It is rare for members of the Whips Office in either party to speak; but today a senior Opposition Whip has been able to speak not only with great authority but with great passion on an extremely important subject, one that pertains not only to his constituents-in that sense, it is local-but, as he made extremely clear, one that has wider ramifications, especially given the care that we need to take of all our national parks. I hope that that goes some way to answering the clear questions that he posed about local importance. Yes, of course, it is of local importance; the appeal on Backdale is about the extent of quarrying, and it is a local matter. However, the implications go much wider and that is what the right hon. Member for West Derbyshire (Mr. McLoughlin) articulately brought before hon. Members today. I congratulate the right hon. Gentleman on doing so and on the manner in which he has presented a powerful case."
  
  
• "My colleagues in Her Majesty's Revenue and Customs are aware of the reported issues of aggregates extracted for commercial purposes under exemptions such as for vein minerals, and they are looking into that."
  
  
• "a relatively small number of initial reviews of old permissions, including those relating to Backdale and several other sites in the Peak district, have currently stalled, for a variety of reasons.
  
  Applications for review in the stalled cases in England were made before regulations came into effect in the year 2000. They required that, where mineral working caused a significant environmental impact, environmental statements should be provided to inform the review. Those regulations include a sanction for the suspension of operations where information is not provided. Some of the stalled initial reviews are still awaiting environmental information to inform the determination of new operating conditions. The mineral planning authorities cannot decide the applications without the information. Advice was issued that, under current legislation, mineral planning authorities cannot require the submission of that information either. Meanwhile, the operators of those sites can continue quarrying. That is the Catch-22 we are in.
  
  The situation is clearly unsatisfactory, but the Department for Communities and Local Government, which is responsible for minerals legislation, fully appreciates that. It is preparing to consult on new regulations which, among other things, would provide a sanction to ensure that outstanding environmental information is provided and new conditions can finally be determined."

All 3 points are very significant but the last point is the most important - if the proposed new regulations were able to be introduced quickly, this would allow the PDNPA to take action to stop all operations on Longstone Edge by the present operators, pending the preparation of acceptable Environmental Impact Assessments. This would then lead to the determination of more modern working and operating conditions that would place significant restrictions on the rate of limestone extraction, as well as removing the commercial advantage of not having to restore that damage.

We will be watching closely to see if this actually happens.

After the debate the minister made time available to briefly meet with Patrick McLoughlin and the whole group in Westminster Hall. During informal discussions, Mr Gardiner confirmed his view that the issue was of national importance. He also agreed that he would be prepared to meet with some of us more formally to explore some of our ideas on how to resolve the problems of mass limestone extraction on Longstone Edge permanently. We will be writing formally to Patrick McLoughlin on this matter in order for him to arrange a meeting. We're also hoping to persuade the minister that he really needs to see the scale of the problem with his own eyes.

We then rushed outside to be greeted again by the TV interviewers, keen to hear what we had made of the whole process - this was then reported very thoroughly on the evening news in all the surrounding regions.

That then left about 15 minutes for us to gather our thoughts for the journey home (another 5 hours).

So, just over 13 hours after we left Calver crossroads in the dark, we arrived home again (in the dark) - tired but in high spirits, sharing the view that the whole day had been very worthwhile, and that we had made another small step forwards on the path of our campaign to stop the unwarranted large-scale limestone extraction from Longstone Edge.