Local Mineral Policy

Yesterday a story appeared in my Shuttle newsfeed "Wyre Forest residents urged to have say on minerals policy". This snagged my attention for a couple of reasons.

Firstly this is a county policy not a district one; so as per usual one can expect county needs to overrule district ones.

Secondly this was launched last Wednesday, but we're finding out about it from our paper a week later.

Thirdly - why do we need this? Gosh it can't be anything to do with the changes in Planning legislation that mean the need for minerals can trump standard planning issues such as Sites of Special Scientific Interest or Areas of Outstanding Natural Beauty, can it? Not that anyone would want to dig up such areas... except as reported in a recent Private Eye article regarding open-cast mining at part of an AoNB (IIRC issue sadly donated to other members of the family).