A NATIONAL park authority considering whether to allow a £1.5bn potash mine to be sunk, has said major developments in national parks should be “refused in all but exceptional circumstances”.

The planning committee for the North York Moors National Park today (Thursday, May 16) discussed a report which outlined some of the issues members will have to consider when they decide on York Potash’s application to create the mine at Sneaton near Whitby in July.

Head of planning, Chris France, told a meeting in Helmsley that the economic impact of proposals were not normally considered, but would be in this case.

The report presented to the meeting states that the "long established principle that major developments which by their nature are likely to result in harm to national parks should be refused in all but exceptional circumstances remains in place".

The document also explains how polyhalite is needed to help meet an increasing need for agricultural fertiliser as the world’s population grows.

But the authority commissioned its own report on global and UK potash markets which questioned the projected UK need for more potash, saying it could be met with the output from the nearby Boulby potash mine.

Speaking after the meeting, Sirius Minerals, the company behind the York Potash project, refuted these suggestions, saying it had undertaken significant studies and identified numerous customers for polyhalite from around the world.

A spokesman said: “DEFRA studies reveal that the UK market already suffers from an under application of potassium and, with emerging markets growing at a considerable rate, it makes the UK potentially less able to secure meaningful and long-term supply arrangements from the major potash exporting countries.

"Having an additional, secure and sustainable domestic supply is the best defence against this significant risk.”

The park authority had also commissioned an independent report on the mine’s impact on tourism, saying it had been “concerned that there was no objective evidence” on this issue.

The report estimated it would cost £40.8m a year in direct tourist expenditure during the construction phase of the development of up to four years.

After the meeting, Chris Fraser, chief executive of Sirius Minerals questioned the accuracy of the expected effect on tourism.

He said: “The National Park’s Tourism Research Report shows a high level of support for the plans with the majority of those tourism businesses and visitors surveyed feeling that the project should be permitted, but only nine per cent of visitors questioned were aware of the York Potash project before being surveyed.”

Chair of the planning committee, Herbert Tindall said: “This is the most important planning application we’re likely to look at ever, certainly until now.”