Conservation update November 2024

It happens some times that one particular part of the Jurassic Coast gets busy with conservation issues. Like busses – nothing happens for ages, then three things come along almost at once. That has been Portland in the last few years. First there was the controversial Energy Reclamation Facility, then, in November, we reported on the plans to shore up the sea wall at Chesil. Last week, we were looking at a new planning application to open up a mine on the east coast of the island, close to the World Heritage Site. Each one of these issues presents unique challenges and opportunities, and the mine is no different.

In brief, the planning application sets out the proposal to create a new mine entrance so that Portland stone can be extracted underground from an otherwise mostly untouched area. It is made more complicated because that part of Portland is very sensitive for all sorts of reasons – ecology, archaeology, landscape quality, tourism, and the World Heritage Site, not to mention the impact it might have on people living in the nearby village of Southwell. On the other hand, Portland stone is a highly valued building material and essential for the conservation of historic buildings around the world, so a continuing supply is important. Also, the Portland stone industry is a key employer on the island.

There is a lot to consider, but there is one vital element that lies behind all of that, which is that the applicant already has permission to open cast quarry the entire area. This dates back to the 1950s, and something that is referred to as ‘old minerals permissions’. They were given with practically no conditions or constraints and in perpetuity, meaning that the applicant in this case would be within their rights to start extracting stone tomorrow with no regard paid to any of the sensitivities of the area. With that in mind, a mine, where they only open up a relatively small area and most extraction takes place hidden underground, is far more preferable. Finding the balance in all this is going to be no easy task, and it is cases like this that make me empathise with planning officers.

Where does the Jurassic Coast fit? Thankfully, the proposed mine entrance does not come over into the boundaries of the World Heritage Site, so a lot of the thinking for us will be around how the workings might affect the surrounding landscape, what we call the ‘setting’ of the Site. However, there is also a tantalising opportunity that the creation of the mine entrance presents, one that could transform our understanding of a very famous feature of the Jurassic Coast… more on that next time.

You can see the panning application on the Dorset Council website;

https://planning.dorsetcouncil.gov.uk/plandisp.aspx?recno=409165