§ Mr. Les Huckfieldasked the Secretary of State for Energy whether his Department monitors the use of land deemed suitable by the National Coal Board for opencast coal mining.
§ Mr. John MooreNo. However the Government are considering a number of recommendations of the Commission of Energy and the Environment designed to improve the relationship between the planning of opencast coal mining and that of other forms of developments, and hope to reply shortly on these and other recommendations in the commission's report on "Coal and the Environment."