MSP Alex Rowley warned that Blair House mine near Oakley “could become a total environmental disaster” if money’s not found to restore the land.

He also slammed the firms who used to run the sites at Muirdean in Crossgates and St Ninians in Kelty and said they should have been investigated by the authorities.

In the Scottish Parliament, Mr Rowley discussed former coalfield areas and said, “For the first two (Muirdean and St Ninians) there was thankfully a bond in place when ATH Resources and then Scottish Coal both went into administration which meant that at least a level of restoration would be carried out.

“But there is scope for a better level of restoration. In the case of Blair House, the drawing down of the existing bond (£3.1million) is critical to funding a viable restoration and the council are still advancing on this.

“Initial claims for repayment have been rejected by Royal Sun Alliance. Further legal advice is being sought on the next steps and actions, including court action, are being considered.” Mr Rowley secured a debate on the issue and told fellow MSPs he wanted to raise awareness of the “massive environmental nightmare that has been left scarring many parts of Scotland’s countryside”. And he added, “I still cannot understand why those companies, namely ATH Resources and Scottish Coal and their directors, have not been under investigation and are not being brought to task for their role in this environmental disaster.” The MSP for Cowdenbeath said he supported the proposal for a Carbon Price Support (CPS) Exemption which was proposed by Hargreaves, who took on the sites at Crossgates and Kelty. The firm appealed to the UK Government for permission to mine abandoned opencast sites without having to pay the CPS tax.

Exemption currently only applies to coal slurry but Hargreaves argued that if it was extended, it would allow all abandoned coal sites in Scotland to be restored.

The Scottish Coal Task Force gave its backing and Mr Rowley said, “Blair House is the worst example in Fife and if none of these two things happen, the bond being drawn down or CPS Exemption, it could become a total environmental disaster.” He said that the abandoned mines across Scotland added up to 3500 hectares of “de-spoilt land” and that, beyond the general flooding and site degradation, the costs of essential pumping, monitoring and basic security would have to be met by councils if nothing changed.

Mr Rowley added that the sites could be dangerous and last year the Press reported safety fears over children swimming in a large pond at the derelict Blair House site.

Police had to tell the kids to get out of the water and there was growing anger about the lack of progress in tackling the eyesore 92-acre site.

While Hargreaves took on Muirdean and St Ninians as working sites, Blair House was eventually acquired by The Mines Restoration Limited (MRL) last summer.

A wholly-owned subsidiary of the Scottish Mines Restoration Trust, MRL has been meeting the council, landowners and community groups to discuss and develop restoration plans.

Mr Rowley said work towards the CPS Exemption was encouraging and added, “Whilst there is still work to be done, this is a step in the right direction for there are many sites that have absolutely no solution – or very poor solutions.

“Blair House is the best Fife example where there is no solution without CPS Exemption support, unless the bond funding position is resolved.” Fife Council confirmed they were still pursuing the bond.