A Kenilworth town and district councillor has said Warwickshire has been saved from becoming a centre for fossil fuel extraction by a government inspector.

Cllr John Dearing's comments came following the approval of the new minerals plan by Warwickshire County Council in July.

The scheme, which is four years late, will run to 2032, and it incorporates a strategy for supplying the minerals the county and others need to provide the infrastructure, buildings, energy and goods.

It also includes seven possible locations for new quarries, with a 47 hectare site on the land at Coney Grey Farm, Ryton, near Kenilworth among them.

But Cllr Dearing, who is also a professor of physical geography, said the unamended plans would have been far worse for the county.

"I was interested in this report because we actually made a town council consultation response to this many many months ago," he said at last week's Kenilworth Town Council meeting.

"It has now come out of the final plan, having come through the government inspector's scrutiny. 

"You can also read it as the government inspector has saved Warwickshire from becoming a potential centre for coal gasification and possible fracking and coal extraction.  

"It's very telling that the inspector has deleted, corrected or amended at some length many of the original statements about hydrocarbons.  

"I really think that It is unacceptable that WCC, who declared a climate emergency, took such a supportive stance for potential investments in fossil fuel extraction."

When the plans were approved Cllr Wallace Redmond, the portfolio holder for transport and planning, explained the lengthy consultation process.

He said: "Residents and stakeholders have had the opportunity to comment through a number of stages of consultation since 2015 – there was a slight delay due to Covid. Their cases were heard by the inspector of the examination hearings in 2020.

"At the hearings, following extensive discussions from all sides, a number of matters were flagged up by the inspector where the council was required to consider further changes. All these were completed satisfactorily and consultation took place.

"Following consultation, the council fed back to the inspector all the comments that were received. This resulted in the inspector requesting the council to respond to further questions."