‘Redraw map to push out the mine’

Calls for the boundary of the North York Moors National Park to be redrawn to exclude a multibillion pound potash mine have been made by the head of its leading conservation group.

Perhaps it is time to redraw the boundary of the North York Moors Tom Chadwick, chairman of the North Yorkshire Moors Association

CALLS FOR the boundary of the North York Moors National Park to be redrawn as a result of the multi-billion pound potash mine have been made by the head of the park’s leading conservation group.

The chairman of the North Yorkshire Moors Association, Tom Chadwick, claimed the mining operation would undermine the ethos of the park, and claimed other areas are benefiting from having boundaries changed. In the new edition of Voice of

the Moors, he writes: “It is difficult to reconcile this destructive industrial activity with the pur- poses of the national park especially at a time when other parks are benefitting from extensions to their boundaries and in the case of the Lake District, being awarded World Heritage Site status.”

He adds: “Perhaps it is time to redraw the boundary of the North York Moors with a line that excludes the Woodsmith potash mine.”

Mr Chadwick said that the mine’s developer, Sirius Minerals, has put forward a new planning application which will cover changes to existing planning described as “minor material changes”.

He said: “The application includes changes to the buildings at the minehead, to the layout of the minehead site and to the construction methods for the three shafts.”

The application is due to go before the park authority’s planning committee this month, according to Mr Chadwick.

The mine, which has an estimated cost of about £10bn, is based at Sneaton, just south of Whitby, on the edge of the national park. Planning permission was given by the national park authority in October 2015 by a single vote.

Sirius claims the scheme will be a boost to the North Yorkshire coast’s economy, providing thousands of new jobs both during and after construction of the mine.

Briony Fox, the director (Polyhalite Projects) at the North York Moor National Park Authority, said: ‘The authority has imposed extensive planning controls on the development of the Woodsmith Mine to limit the degree of impact on the special qualities of the park.

“The authority continues to monitor the development as well as implement the legal agreement that provides compensa- tion and mitigation for any adverse impacts on the landscape, ecology and tourism economy of the National Park.”

Earlier this month, The York-

shire Post revealed that the project remains on track as it continues to hire more staff. In a quarterly development update, Sirius said the project is on time and on budget. Sirius believes the project has discovered the world’s largest high-grade known deposit of polyhalite, a multi-nutrient form of potash containing potassium, sulphur, magnesium and calcium used in fertiliser.

At Woodsmith, where there are currently about 230 people engaged in construction activities, work has continued on the pads, civil works and site office facilities.

Construction of the pad for the mineral transport system shaft is progressing well and the concrete batch plant has been commissioned, Sirius said.

The project was described by then Minister for the Northern Powerhouse, Andrew Percy, as “a project of national importance”.