SOME of Scotland’s most famous opencast coal sites, including St Ninian’s in Kelty and Muir Dean, at Crossgates, should be properly restored, Gordon Brown said this week.

Supporting local MSP, Alex Rowley’s, motion to the Scottish Parliament for action, Mr Brown, MP for Kirkcaldy and Cowdenbeath, has written to Chancellor George Osborne urging a budget change to make help it easier to reinstate the two sites.

He fears that without action these could become a safety risk to local communities in the future and he wants a carbon price support exemption that would allow the reparation of the sites by existing operators. Mr Brown has been concerned about the future of opencast sites in the constituency since problems with the former Westfield site, between Ballingry and Kinglassie.

The MP said, “I have been pressing for a carbon price support (CPS) exemption for opencast coal sites that would help do this.

“The background is the demise of Scottish Coal and ATH Resources, which has meant that opencast restoration projects have been put on hold.

“Despite the work of the Scottish coal industry taskforce to find solutions to these problems they have so far enjoyed limited success in doing so.

“A carbon price support exemption appears to be the only viable plan and we should do it because safety should never be put at risk.

“I am keen that environmental and safety issues raised by scarred sites like at St Ninians and Muir Dean should be addressed now and not left to fester as problems for years.” Hargreaves, the company that is restoring the two current Central Fife sites, has been promoting carbon price support for some time.