A legal victory was won earlier this year to stop quarrying at Peak District National Park, thanks to six years of campaigning by a coalition of organisations including Friends of the Earth.
But there are strong fears that operators will use planning loopholes to continue destroying the Park.
Longstone Edge Coalition was formed to save this area of the Peak District from being ruined by quarrying. In March this year the Court of Appeal ordered that excessive quarrying must stop. But the company continued to remove limestone from the ground.
The operator has since withdrawn from the site. But quarrying could start again at any time as the planning permission is still valid.
The Coalition is asking Hilary Benn, Secretary of State for Environment Food and Rural Affairs, to bring a permanent solution to the threat of quarrying.
We urge the Government, on behalf of all that care about protecting our national parks, to finish the job. We must win the war as well as the battle by buying Backdale out from the quarry operators.
This can be achieved by a 'buy out' package where the Government buys up the land and minerals rights. Through this the old planning permission will be withdrawn.
This year is the 60th anniversary of the National Parks Act
Act now to save the park. Write to Hilary Benn on behalf of the coalition asking him to bring a permanent solution to the quarrying that is destroying Longstone Edge. This would be a perfect way to mark the 60th anniversay of the National Parks Act. Act now to save Peak District National Park from quarry devastation.
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