CAMPAIGNERS say a decision by the Court of Session over the future of open-cast mine sites after Scottish Coal's collapse has given the industry "carte blanche to trash the countryside".
The coal mining firm's liquidators KPMG obtained a decision from judges in Edinburgh that effectively relieved it of responsibility for some former sites.
Scottish Coal went bust in April with the loss of 600 jobs in a fresh blow for the declining Scottish industry.
KPMG had asked judges earlier this month to rescind the responsibility of Scottish Coal and Aardvark, another coal firm in administration, to return their opencast mines to their former condition. The court agreed they did not have responsibility for "onerous sites".
Scottish Coal has been criticised for failing to restore 11 mines that are now considered liabilities because the cost of restoring them is greater than their value.
KPMG has struggled to find a buyer for the firm's assets, because of the issue of transferring responsibility for site restoration.
Coal firm Hargreaves Services is to re-start operations at five of the opencast coal mines shut by the collapse of Scottish Coal, but the Durham-based firm is not taking ownership due to the cost of restoration once mining ends.
In a statement yesterday, the Scottish Opencast Communities Alliance (Soca) said the court's ruling lets Scottish Coal renege on environmental and planning obligations over exhausted sites and ignore rules that made firms restrict pollution and restore the land when work ended.
Soca chairman Malcolm Spaven also hit out at the move to allow KPMG to pay themselves before meeting claims from local planning authorities for funds to restore the abandoned mines.
Describing the court's decision as "a backward step for environmental responsibility", Mr Spaven said: "Having trashed the countryside, Scottish Coal are now being given carte blanche to walk away from the mess they have created. They have also created a precedent for any future company to abandon the obligations imposed on them when they were granted planning permission.
"The end result is that Scottish Coal's directors get to disappear with millions while cash-strapped local authorities and Government agencies - are left with an impossible bill for clean-up.
"Meanwhile the communities that have had to endure noise, dust and pollution for years face the prospect of many sites never being restored."
Last month, the Scottish Government rejected a call from Soca for a public inquiry into the opencast industry.
But Mr Spaven said the court decision highlighted the need for an inquiry into how the industry, Government and local councils "got us into this position".
He added: "We must have a robust planning enforcement system and solid guarantees that companies pay for proper restoration of their sites."
Scottish Greens co-convener Patrick Harvie, who along with Liberal Democrat leader Willie Rennie MSP and Friends of the Earth Scotland, also called for an inquiry into the opencast industry, said: "The case for an inquiry into the process in general, the impact on communities, allegations of bullying of communities, and restoration is very strong.
"There should be a moratorium on expansion or new mines until the inquiry is held and reports."
KPMG's agreement with Hargreaves will see the transfer of Scottish Coal's interests in five former mine sites, including Broken Cross in South Lanarkshire and House of Water in East Ayrshire, to newly created subsidiaries of Scottish Coal.
The other sites are St Ninian's in Fife and Damside in North Lanarkshire, which will see restoration work carried out, and Chalmerston in East Ayrshire, where a planning application is being submitted to open up new reserves.
The agreement does not include Scottish Coal's Blair House mine near Saline, Fife.
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