§ Mr. Blackburnasked the Secretary of State for the Environment what steps he proposes to take to determine the degree of risk, if any, arising from the existence of underground caverns created by limestone mining in the Black Country.
§ Mr. KingI am pleased to announce that, in co-operation with the metropolitan boroughs of Dudley, Sandwell and Walsall, together with the West Midlands county council, the Department has awarded a contract worth £198,000 to consultant engineers Ove Amp and Partners for an 18-month research project into abandoned underground and surface limestone workings in the Black Country.
Work will start this month to investigate the extent and physical characteristics of the limestone caverns and to establish the degree of risk of ground movement, if any. The final report will recommend what measures should be taken to deal with the workings and will also estimate the cost of any necessary remedial measures.
The study will be directed by a steering committee made up of officers from the four local authorities concerned—Dudley, Sandwell, Walsall, and West Midlands County Council—and the Department.
The Black Country limestone workings date back to the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries and have never been properly recorded. In recent years there has been growing concern over the state of the workings.
The cost of the research project is being met jointly by the four local authorities and the Department of the Environment.