The leader of Fife Council has offered assurances to residents that everything possible is being done by the local authority to progress the possible restoration of open cast coal mines across Fife.
The comment was made by Councillor Alex Rowley following a meeting with the Scottish Coal Industry Task Force this week.
Mr Rowley said he is determined that the council will continue to work with partners and push for progress on five sites where issues including flooding and potential pollution issues are causing concern.
He said: “There is a lot of local concern around the future of various open cast coal sites in Fife and a real loss of confidence in the coal industry since the collapse of Scottish Coal and ATH Resources.
“I want to reassure residents that we’re doing everything we can to help address concerns around individual sites and make it very clear that we will continue to demand assurances from the industry that proper restoration will be carried out.”
Scottish Coal had made a commitment that work would recommence, after a period of site mothballing, at the Blairhouse mine in March next year.
However, the council is pushing the bondholder and administrator for an earlier start to restoration work as a matter of urgency at this location, to address some aspects of flooding and ensure the site is complete as soon as practically possible .
At Muirdean, the former ATH Resources site, the pumping of water is continuing at a cost of £30,000 each week.
The Scottish Mines Restoration Trust has offered £60,000 to help with costs and discussions are continuing with partners, including Sepa, to manage the ongoing pumping costs.
Moves to restore the site are also progressing and 15 companies have expressed an interest in taking the work forward.
Work is ongoing at St Ninians, near Kelty, where the majority of the site has been taken over by mining company Hargreaves. However, the company has not taken on the responsibility for the open cast element of the site, which is being put in the ownership of a new company (a HIVECO) that will look to extract about 70,000 tonnes of coal and work through restoration issues. Discussions are continuing on future restoration and the proposed Land Art project.
The council’s west Fife planning committee is expected to discuss an application from Hargreaves on future mining activity at Loch Fitty and controls on water levels are still in place at Westfield.
Mr Rowley added: “There is no room for complacency around these issues.
“Our position on any future applications for mining in Fife is very clear in that we will continue to demand assurances from developers on restoration of sites and we have made clear that we would expect restoration bonds to be put in place as an insurance policy to protect the local environment and local communities. Our communities deserve no less.”