§ Mr. Berminghamasked the Secretary of State for the Environment if he will list by site and county all opencast coalmining applications received since 1 January 1984, stating in each case whether authorization has been granted, refused or is still pending; and if he will list separately for each approved case, and for each refused or as yet unauthorised case, the tonnage per year to be mined and the time period requested or authorised.
§ Mr. TraceyUnder section 1 of the Opencast Coal Act 1958 the National Coal Board requires an authorisation, issued by the appropriate Secretary of State, in respect of each opencast coal site before work at the site may commence. Since 1 March 1984 the responsibility for issuing authorisations has rested with my right hon. Friend the Secretary of State for the Environment.
The following table gives the information requested.
465W
Application for authorization since 1 January 1984—in chronological order Site County Total tonnage '000 tonnes Status 1. Kingswood Staffordshire 227 Authorised 2.Flagstaff Leicestershire 280 Authorised 3.Dog Lane Shropshire 200 Pending 4. Amberswood Lancashire 190 Authorised 5. Kirk Derbyshire 2,500 Pending 6. Potatopot Cumbria 2,000 Authorised 7. Chester House Northumberland 3,000 Authorised 8. Barnabas Derbyshire 210 Pending 9.Bilston West Midlands 364 Pending 10. Plenmeller Northumberland 1,900 Pending 11. High Lane Staffordshire 2,400 Pending 12. Ryefield Derbyshire 27 Authorised 13. Moira Pottery Leicestershire 100 Pending 14.Streets Lane Staffordshire 2,300 Pending NoteNo information is available about annual extraction rates and the authorisation by the Secretary of State does not relate to a specific time period.