Fees for Monitoring Surface Coal Mines
Overview
This consultation seeks views on the Scottish Government’s proposal to enable planning authorities to charge operators for undertaking monitoring of surface coal mining permissions, including planning conditions; legal agreements and restoration financial guarantees.
Why your views matter
Surface coal mining developments are normally issued subject to planning conditions and associated legal agreements, which among other things seek to minimise the potential adverse impacts on local communities and the environment.
In order to establish that the developer meets the conditions of their consent, they are likely to be monitored. In the past, routine and comprehensive monitoring has not been fully funded because the planning application fee was not sufficient to cover both the processing and post-consent costs.
At present the Scottish Government considers that fees for monitoring are merited in order to recover some of the on-going costs of ensuring that conditions imposed to mitigate impacts are properly implemented and monitored.
What happens next
Following the closure of the consultation and subject to a positive response it is intended, in due course, to lay Scottish Regulations granting powers to local authorities to recover monitoring fees.
Interests
- Business, Industry and Innovation
- Building and Planning
- Communities and Third Sector
- Economy
- Energy
- Environment and Climate Change
- Public Sector
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