The Scottish Environment Protection Agency (SEPA) has transferred environmental licences for former opencast coal sites to a new operator, Mines Restoration Limited (MRL).

Licences for the former local Scottish Coal Company Ltd sites at Dunstonhill, Powharnal, and Spireslack/Ponesk were transferred on Monday 21 July from KPMG to MRL following a rigorous assessment of the operator’s applications.

MRL have also taken over the licenses for Glentaggart and Mainshill in South Lanarkshire, and Blairhouse in Fife As environmental regulator, SEPA has a duty to ensure that all opencast coal sites have the appropriate environmental licences in place and that each responsible person understands their role in maintaining compliance with the specific licences conditions.

Lin Bunten, Head of Operations for Energy, at the Scottish Environment Protection Agency (SEPA), said: “The transference of licences to Mines Restoration Limited represents a positive step forward in ensuring that these opencast sites will be adequately managed and the local environment safeguarded. “To allow SEPA to approve the transfer of these licences, MRL has had to demonstrate to SEPA that it is capable of securing compliance with the strict conditions outlined under each environmental licence and we are satisfied that these conditions can be met for the foreseeable future.” There will be more on this story in next week's Chronicle.