§ Mr. Skeetasked the Secretary of State for the Environment where it is proposed that the waste material from the colliery to be established in the Vale of Belvoir will be tipped; and whether it will be transported by rail or road.
§ Mr. Giles ShawThe National Coal Board's planning application for a new colliery at Asfordby, Leicestershire, envisages that some 90 per cent. of the waste brought to the surface will be deposited adjacent to the mine in a tip so designed to blend into and conform with the contours of the landscape. The remaining 10 per cent. will be taken by road to restore disused quarries and other derelict areas in the vicinity. However, when my right hon. Friend the Secretary of State announced on 18 March—[Vol. 39, c.285]—that this planning application would not be called in, he said that he expected the board to take account of any changes in the technology or economics of colliery waste disposal that there may be in the years ahead which might help to modify the environmental impact of coal mining in this area and in particular to reduce the amount of land taken out of agricutural use at any one time. In this context, he referred to the working parties which are due to report in July and which are studying, among other things, the potential of taking the mine waste by rail to remote sites such as the Bedfordshire brickfields.