§ Mr. Eadieasked the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry how many occasions over the last two years the Government has rejected an application by the National Coal Board to mine opencast coal; what projects were envisaged in the applications; and what were the reasons given for refusal of the applications.
§ Mr. Tom Boardman:Four applications have been rejected. The projects were the Kingswood site, Staffordshire—twice —the Colliers Row site, Merthyr Tydvil, and the Butterwell site, Northumberland. All were rejected on amenity grounds.