Environmental Permitting (England and Wales) (Amendment) Regulations 2009

Once again, I thank the Minister for presenting this statutory instrument and for providing the background against which it is being brought before us. I have no direct interest in mining but my political interests stem back to fighting Nottinghamshire in the European elections and Chesterfield in parliamentary elections. My first political experience outside my home patch was in Bolsover, which would have been considered the heartland of the mining industry were it not for the fact that it now has a Conservative county council. Such are the ways that communities change over time. I have a few concerns and I hope that the Minister will accept them in an interrogative form. If he does not have the answer to hand, I understand that it may be easier for him to write to us in fuller detail. Given the importance of coal mining and the central role that it has in this area, I am not sure why the Government have chosen this particular route to comply with the directive. What consideration was given to devising a separate set of permitting regulations dealing solely with the mining industry? What were the reasons for trying to fashion a fully comprehensive single regulation? Inevitably, the directive is concerned with the adverse effects of mining waste on water, air, soil, flora, fauna, landscape and the risk to human health. Would not the transposition into UK law have been more carefully done if mining had had its own regulations and was able to address these elements particularly? There was some media coverage last year, for example, of the controversy about the whole issue of opencast mining and its environmental impact in the UK. Has any special assessment been made of the impact of this type of mining, and in what ways will these permitting regulations affect that? Having said that, we understand the necessity for these regulations and I am grateful to the Minister for presenting them.