Deep Rake quarry. Photo: Martin Spamer CC-BY-SA-2.0

Deep Rake quarry. Photo: Martin Spamer CC-BY-SA-2.0

National park bosses have made an order stopping quarrying at a site surrounded by controversy.

Members of the Peak District National Park Authority’s planning committee agreed to a prohibition order on further mineral extraction at a quarry on Longstone Edge, where a protracted battle was fought over mining at Backdale, a short distance away.

The authority made the order to stop further quarrying at Deep Rake, near Hassop. The order will not take effect unless it is confirmed by the Secretary of State.

A national park authority spokesperson said: “Under mineral planning regulations if an old mineral permission has been suspended for at least two years, because of a lack of information required from the applicant to enable the authority to set modern working conditions, and work appears to have permanently ceased, the national park authority has a duty to issue a prohibition order.

“Prohibition orders prevent mineral work resuming and can require quarry companies to restore the landscape.

“To make a prohibition order the authority has to take into account all relevant factors and evidence when assessing whether work has permanently stopped at the site, including the quality and quantity of workable mineral and whether there is any genuine intention to work the site.”

The spokesperson said the decision was based on evidence provided by owners and operators, geotechnical specialists and the authority’s planning files.

“Planning permission was granted in 1952 at the eastern end of Longstone Edge for the extraction of fluorspar, barytes, lead and other minerals,” the spokesperson said. “The permission on part of the site was suspended in November 2010, when the operator Bleaklow Industries failed to provide required environmental information.”

Bleaklow Industries was at the centre of a long legal wrangle over its Backdale Quarry site, during which both the British Mountaineering Council and the Ramblers backed the authority’s stance on curtailing limestone extraction at the quarry, which also operated under a 1952 consent.

Three years ago, the European Court of Human Rights turned down Bleaklow Industries’ right to appeal against the national park’s enforcement action to halt excessive stone extraction at Backdale Quarry, near Bakewell.

The Peak authority last week deferred for four months a decision on a similar prohibition order for Stanton Moor Quarry.

Park bosses said the decision gives owners Block Stone a four-month deadline, until March 2014, to provide additional information necessary for the review of the 1952 planning permission.

“If Block Stone fails to supply the information within the four-month period, the national park authority will reconsider whether, based on the evidence then available, mineral extraction has permanently ended at Stanton Moor Quarry,” the spokesperson said.

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