Banks Group’s application to extend Bradley West Mine in County Durham has been refused by the local council because of its impact on the environment.
The company wanted to extend the open cast mine to extract an extra 90,000 tonnes of coal.
Banks, which promised to restore the land by August 2021, said the extension would protect jobs on the site and support British industry by providing an alternative to imported coal from Australia, Russia or the United States.
More than 6,000 letters of objection were sent to Durham County Council from campaigners – including environmental campaigners Extinction Rebellion – saying that the plan “environmentally unacceptable”.
The application was supported by business, industries and unions, including the North East England Chamber of Commerce and Unite The Union to support the extraction of an extra 90,000 tonnes over 18.5 hectares of high-quality coal and 20,000 tonnes of fireclay for use by regional brickmakers.
Banks said that letters of support had been submitted by customers that depend on industrial coal and fireclay, including Tata Steel, brickmaker Wienerberger, and clay raw materials supplier Castle Clay Sales.
Mark Dowdall, environment and community director at the Banks Group, said: “We are extremely disappointed with those planning committee members who voted against the advice of their own expert planning officers’ clear recommendation to approve our Bradley West mine.
“This decision has effectively handed the much-needed jobs of our skilled local workforce to Russian miners, who will be delighted to meet British industry’s continuing need for coal and who will significantly increase global greenhouse gas emissions by doing so.”
The council’s officers had recommended the plan be approved but councillors rejected it in an online meeting on Wednesday (1 July).
Plans for the mine near Consett were first approved in 2015 and extraction of coal began in May 2018.