The Secretary of State has until on or before the 4th March 2018 to give his final decision.

Check back to the site in the future for more information.

Click the button below to download the recent letter from the Secretary of State regarding the new development!

Banks mining’s correspondence to the local community implies that planning approval for an Open Cast Mine at DruridgeBay is a formality. This is not the case

The NorthumberlandCoast, from Amble to Lynemouth, including DruridgeBay is subject to the Northumberland Minerals Local Plan, adopted in March 2000 which continued to be accepted in the September2010 policy review. The map below, which is an extract from the adopted policy, clearly shows the Druridge bay area as an Opencast Coal Constraint Area.

Northumberland Coast opencast constraints

Section 4.44 of this Policy, titled ‘the NorthumberlandCoast’, specifically states the reasons why a constraint has been placed on surface mining in the DruridgeBay area.

“Both the County and District Councils are working to upgrade the environment of Druridge Bay and its environs as reflected in the Northumberland Coast Management Plan, the Management Strategy for Druridge Bay and the establishment of a coast project to develop an integrated approach to the management of the coastal landscape. This change in emphasis ………has been reflected in the recent extension of the heritage coast designation to DruridgeBay between Amble and Cresswell. The area is also particularly important for nature conservation, containing Cresswell Ponds SSSI. It is particularly important for migrating birds and is a candidate Ramsar site and Special Protection area”

The policy goes on to state that

“ Unless there are exceptional circumstances where it can be demonstrated that the special landscape, heritage  and nature conservation interests of the area would not be adversely affected, planning permission will NOT be granted for opencast coal sites in the following areas:

• NorthumberlandCoast between Amble and Lynemouth”

Northumberland’s most recent Strategy report does not give any indication of a change in policy and nothing has changed in the Druridge Bay area to give any reason to cite any exceptional circumstances.

Based on Northumberland County council adopted policy a Planning application for an open cast mine in this area should not be being considered.