‘Use Underspend to pay for Restoration’Sandra Osborne tells Scottish Government
Local MP Sandra Osborne took the opportunity of Westminster’s Scottish Questions last week to ask the Secretary of State for Scotland , Alistair Carmichael MP if she ‘could expect good news’ in the forthcoming Budget regarding the proposal for a Carbon Price Support exemption to assist restoration of abandoned opencast sites and the creation of a thousand jobs.
The MP has been campaigning for this and expects to meet with Treasury Ministers and officials shortly to discuss the matter further.
She said: ‘I am aware of ongoing discussions on this which I believe represent our best hope to date of getting a comprehensive solution to the blight left on our landscape. However I have also asked the Scottish Government to consider providing funding for this from their substantial budget underspend of just under half a billion pounds. They have the devolved responsibility for opencast and I see no reason why this environmental disaster should not be considered an exceptional case worthy of such support. I will not let this rest until we have secured a solution to this’
Local MP Sandra Osborne took the opportunity of Westminster’s Scottish Questions last week to ask the Secretary of State for Scotland , Alistair Carmichael MP if she ‘could expect good news’ in the forthcoming Budget regarding the proposal for a Carbon Price Support exemption to assist restoration of abandoned opencast sites and the creation of a thousand jobs.
The MP has been campaigning for this and expects to meet with Treasury Ministers and officials shortly to discuss the matter further.
She said: ‘I am aware of ongoing discussions on this which I believe represent our best hope to date of getting a comprehensive solution to the blight left on our landscape. However I have also asked the Scottish Government to consider providing funding for this from their substantial budget underspend of just under half a billion pounds. They have the devolved responsibility for opencast and I see no reason why this environmental disaster should not be considered an exceptional case worthy of such support. I will not let this rest until we have secured a solution to this’