FROM WASTELAND TO WONDERLAND - OPENCAST MINING, REGENERATION AND THE ENGLISH NATIONAL FOREST

In this paper we examine the outcomes of restructuring within the Brit ish coal mining industry in the English countryside and an attempt by the Countryside Commission to regenerate an ai;ea of the rural East Mi dlands through a forest project of sustainable development. In this pa rticular area, deep-mine coal production has collapsed resulting in hi gh levels of unemployment and large parcels of derelict land, while an expansion of opencast coal (and other mineral) extraction has led to considerable landscape despoliation. We examine critically the Country side Commission's project of the National Forest in this area, involvi ng the planting of thirty million trees over an area of almost 200 squ are miles. The Forest is seen as an example of sustainable development , bringing together economic growth-based around timber production and the encouragement of tourism and 'green' business- and environmental enhancement. However, the National Forest will be planted on private l and, some of which is controlled by major mineral companies, with rela tively little public ownership of this so-called 'national asset'. The paper draws on recent research carried out by the authors which has e xplored a series of important land use conflicts surrounding the susta inability of the Forest alongside on-going processes of opencast minin g within its boundaries and also tensions associated with public acces s within a privately-owned forest. Copyright (C) 1996 Elsevier Science Ltd