District National Park Authority to take
enforcement action against alleged
unlawful limestone operations at
Wagers Flat on Longstone Edge, near
Bakewell.
The Authority's planning committee on
(Friday Jan 19th) authorised
enforcement actioną to be taken when
the legal and financial arrangements
are in place.
The move follows mounting concern
that the limestone extraction has gone
beyond the scope of the 1952 planning
permission, which covers 155 hectares
of Longstone Edge.
It also agreed that consideration would
be given to a possible stop notice at a
meeting of the Authority on February
9th.
Operators MMC Mineral Processing
Ltd began quarrying at Wagers Flat
(on land owned by Bleaklow Industries
Ltd) last July after a stop notice
prevented them continuing certain
operations at neighbouring Backdale
quarry.
permission, which was granted by the
then Ministry of Local Government
primarily for fluorspar. The planning
permission does not mention
limestone, but allows "the winning and
working of fluorspar and barytes and
the working of lead and any other
minerals which are won in the course
of working these minerals."
At Wagers Flat a fluorspar vein passes
through the limestone, but the
planning committee was advised that
considerably more limestone had
been removed off site than was won
in the course of working the fluorspar.
The report stated: "The removal off-site
of limestone won in the course of
winning the vein, i.e. making the vein
accessible to be worked, is not
considered to be permitted. As a result
it is considered that there has been a
breach of planning control."
The National Park Authority, whose
statutory purpose is "to conserve and
enhance the natural beauty, wildlife
deeply concerned that this prominent
landscape feature is being irreversibly
damaged by the scale of these
operations.
Planning committee chair Narendra
Bajaria said: "We are equally
concerned as the local community
about what's happening at Wagers
Flat. The Authority is doing everything
in its power to rectify the situation by
today's authorisation for enforcement,
and giving consideration to issuing a
Stop Notice at the Authority's meeting
on February 9.
"We are still looking for a permanent
solution. Rural affairs minister Barry
Gardiner has given a positive response
to our invitation to come to the Peak
District to see the situation for himself,
and the public will be informed as soon
as the details of the visit are in place."
The Authority is currently preparing for
a 10 - day public inquiry into the
operations at Backdale, starting at
Calver Village Hall on February 13th.