Campaigners start fighting fund over potash mine fears

The Campaign for National Parks is gearing up for an application to be submitted by Sirius later this year, which would see a multi-billion pound mine built below the North York Moors.

Once the proposals are put forward, the group, which represents voluntary conservation organisations across the country, will use money from a campaign funding pot in an attempt to fight the development.

Ruth Chambers, deputy chief executive at the Campaign for National Parks, said: “Every year we appeal to members to donate funds for all our campaigning work of which the potash mine will be one if it comes into being. Obviously it doesn’t exist yet, so this is a stance on what we think will come forward.”

Miss Chambers said the group was gravely concerned over the major impact the mine would have on the North York Moors landscapes, with main fears surrounding the location of the wellhead and the transportation of the mineral.

Sirius, which is undertaking an extensive programme of exploratory drilling work to pinpoint the best location for the development, claims state-of-the-art drilling techniques and the design of the mine would help minimise the impact.

But Tom Chadwick, the chairman of the North York Moors Association, one of the organisations represented by the Campaign for National Parks, branded the claims “poppycock”.

He said: “There’s no such thing as an environmentally-friendly mining operation.

“We are still trying to establish what the proposal is. If it turns out to be a major industrial intrusion we will certainly object to it. If it comes to a planning inquiry or something of that sort this fund will obviously help to provide legal representation.

“People are concerned the national park will be degraded in some way. It’s not something we want destroyed by a mining environment.”