CRITICS have claimed enforcement notices served on the owners of abandoned mines are merely a ‘rubber-stamping exercise’.

Among them is Patna resident John Young who says the notices will result is nothing more than a ‘made slightly safer’project. And he pointed to the example of this at Piperhill and Milzeoch mines, which still show clear evidence of opencast workings.

Mr Young added: “This is being sold as a positive as the public can put forward suggestions. However, common sense tells you that when a fixed amount of money is available, such as £3 million at Dunstonhill, suggestions that cost additional money cannot be granted.

“A further consequence of this is that if work/costs over-run at one part of a site, it means less money for another part, resulting in even more watering down of already watered down proposals.” He claims the handling of the process has created ‘confusion’ in Patna.

He said: “The community council were invited into the process to select which tender was chosen. They did not consult the public beforehand and then left this meeting with the impression that a certain void is to be filled in.

“I did not believe that it would be and sure enough was told that the near sheer sides would be re-graded to one in four, leaving a different shaped hole than we have now. East Ayrshire Council’s acting head of planning described the difference between re-grading a hole and filling it in as semantics, which is beyond belief as they are two very different things.

“One man’s semantics is another man’s clear, consistent and proper use of language. Perhaps if the council took the later approach rather than the former, the region it has served horrendously in this regard wouldn’t look like a nuclear testing zone.” He is also concerned about the prospect of future mining undoing any restoration which has been carried out, adding: “This would mean money will have been squandered, and is as outrageous as it is possible.” A Council spokesperson explained: "Following the liquidation of Scottish Coal Company Ltd on April 19 2013, the Council claimed the restoration bond for the Dunstonhill Opencast Coal site and secured a negotiated settlement £3 million to deliver a revised restoration scheme for the site. To ensure the Council could secure a restoration scheme for the site with the bond funds available, the Council issued a tender to the market for offers to design and restore the site in line with principles defined within the original Approved Planning Permission and accompanying Scottish Environment Protection Agency (SEPA) and Scottish Natural Heritage (SNH) objectives.

"Given the number of parties involved in the restoration process it was important that the final restoration design was supported by the three landowners, SEPA, SNH and the Community Council and therefore as a fully inclusive process, all parties were invited to provide representatives to be a member of the tender evaluation panel which has assisted the Planning Service in establishing the alternative restoration scheme.

They added: "The Council received five restoration submissions which were duly reviewed by the evaluation team which included representatives from Patna Community Council; the three land owners (Mines Restoration Ltd; Forestry Commission Scotland and the Poll Estate); along with representatives from SEPA; SNH, the Planning Service and the Council’s Independent Mining Engineer. Following the evaluation assessment on 4 March 2015 formal discussions were carried out with the preferred bidder to clarify a number of matters within the proposed scheme.

"Subsequently, on April 1 2015 Cabinet considered and approved a report in relation to the Netherton and Dunstonhill Opencast sites in relation to the proposals to secure and deliver revised restoration schemes and confirmed that the preferred bidder status within the tender was awarded to Hargreaves Surface Mining Limited (HSML). On April 2 2015, a Special Planning Committee considered and approved the Planning Enforcement Notices to authorise and deliver alternative restoration schemes for each complex.

"The scheme being implemented for Dunstonhill Opencast Coal site does not support the removal of any further coal within the complex.

"However, there are currently 100,000 tonnes of coal in the base seam of the northern water void which due to current coal prices is not economical to drain the void and remove the coal. Given the cross party political support for the Carbon Tax Exemption Scheme and the potential restoration benefits to the community that it may deliver, it is sensible to allow the outcome of this work to determine whether these proposals could offer further restoration enhancement to the complex.

"If this scheme is supported by the UK Government then this would be considered and factored into the current restoration design to ensure that there is no abortive work.

"For complete clarity any future proposals to extract coal from any virgin land not previously approved would be subject to a planning application. The restoration work will also be monitored by the Council’s Independent Mining Engineer to ensure that the contractor carries out the restoration works to the agreed scheme.

"Currently, the Council is in the final stages of concluding the restoration contract with HSML and once completed, a meeting will be held with the Community Council to outline the agreed work programme and stages of restoration along with the setting up of a Community Liaison Committee (CLC). The CLC will meet on a two month cycle to have oversight of the works from a community perspective as they are carried out.

"It is anticipated that all final matters will be concluded over the next couple of weeks with restoration work potentially commencing in early May 2015."