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Former minister in grim warning
A LABOUR stalwart has accused Matlock quarrying company Stancliffe Stone of "carving away at the heart of England."
In an article published in the Observer last weekend, former deputy leader of the Labour party Roy Hattersley warned that a current legal bid by Stancliffe Stone could lead to the Peak Park facing legal costs it cannot afford.
Stancliffe Stone are currently challenging a High Court decision to classify the quarries of Endcliffe and Lees Cross on Stanton Moor as dormant.
Mr Hattersley, who lives in a Peak village, wrote: "Two companies – Merrimans and Stancliffe Stone – have already cut great gashes into the Peak District landscape. They plan to extend their quarries to a point at which their excavations would change the character of the countryside.
"And nobody is quite sure if the Peak District National Park Authority (PDNPA) has either the legal power or the financial muscle to stop it happening."
If the quarries continue to be classified as dormant the PDNPA can impose conditions on stone extraction without the risk of having to pay compensation.
If the judgement is not upheld, Mr Hattersley warns that other companies with dormant quarries may test their status in the hope of avoiding obligations to modernise.
Mr Hattersley wrote: "Were the Peak Park to lose the cases it currently needs to pursue, lawyers fees would total at least £500,000. Like all poor litigants, it may find the price of fighting the cases too high to pay."
PDNPA chief executive Jim Dixon said: "There is no question of our not being able to fight the cases currently going through the courts.
"However, if we were to lose the Lees Cross and Endcliffe case and other companies brought proceedings against us, that would be a different matter."
Mike Jones, general manager of Stancliffe Stone, said: "Our approach is to ensure that the land we borrow to quarry is returned to nature after the stone has been extracted."
Mr Jones claims that his company's 'sympathetic restoration' of previously worked quarries meets environmental obligations and cites the need to protect 68 local jobs.
Controversy over the Stanton Moor quarries continues to inflame the communities of Stanton in Peak and Stanton Lees.
Last week councillor Kath Potter, who has served on Stanton in Peak Parish Council for over ten years, resigned in protest over a representation made to the Court of Appeal by chairman Alan Martin.
A judgement on the status of the quarries is expected within the next four weeks.
by Tim Cunningham
31 March 2005
http://www.matlocktoday.co.uk/ViewArticle2.aspx?SectionID=749&ArticleID=986815
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