24Duration of planning permission
The following section shall be inserted after section 41 of the 1972 Act—
“41ALimit of duration of planning permission for winning and working of minerals.
(1)Every planning permission for development consisting of the winning and working of minerals shall be subject to a condition as to the duration of the development.
(2)Except where a condition is specified under subsection (3) of this section the condition in the case of planning permission granted or deemed to be granted after the date of the commencement of section 24 of the Town and Country Planning (Minerals) Act 1981 is that the development must cease not later than the expiration of the period of sixty years beginning with the date of the permission.
(3)An authority granting planning permission after the date of the commencement of the said section 24 or directing after that date that planning permission shall be deemed to be granted may specify a longer or shorter period than sixty years, and if they do so, the condition is that the development must cease not later than the expiration of a period of the specified length beginning with the date of the permission.
(4)A longer or shorter period than sixty years may be prescribed for the purposes of subsections (2) and (3) of this section.
(5)The condition in the case of planning permission granted or deemed to have been granted before the commencement of section 24 of the Town and Country Planning (Minerals) Act 1981 is that the development must cease not later than the expiration of the period of sixty years beginning with the date of the commencement of that section.
(6)A condition to which planning permission for development consisting of the winning and working of minerals is subject by virtue of this section is not to be regarded for the purposes of this Act as a condition such as is mentioned in subsection (1)(b) of section 27 of this Act.
(7)Where planning permission for development consisting of the winning and working of minerals is granted by the planning authority, any condition to which it is subject by virtue of this section is to be regarded for the purposes of section 33 of this Act as a condition imposed by a decision of the planning authority, and may accordingly be the subject of an appeal under that section.”.