Go-ahead for historic mine site regeneration

Plans by UK Coal to redevelop a former colliery site in West Yorkshire have been approved - paving the way for the regeneration of what was the oldest mine site in Britain.

Around 917 new homes, a business and commercial park expected to create over 1,000 jobs, as well as shops, restaurants, cafes, a medical centre, day nursery, community centre and parkland, are earmarked for the 300-acre former Prince of Wales Colliery site at Pontefract.
 
Wakefield Council's planning committee has approved the project and the site development master plan. Members also agreed the remediation and engineering works needed to prepare the site. These include the removal of a million cubic metres (around 1.5 million tonnes) of coal slurry deposited on a tip before mining activities ceased six years ago. This will be transformed into a leisure and recreation area with football pitches, clubhouse, ponds and footpaths.

Mining activities on the site, adjacent to junction 32 of the M62 and close to the M1 and A1, date back to the 1860s, but ceased in August 2002.

UK COAL chief executive Jon Lloyd said: "Wakefield’s decision is a major milestone in the regeneration of an area with excellent communication links, a versatile and enthusiastic workforce and a community with a desire to move forward."

Meanwhile UK COAL has submitted a planning application to Rotherham Council for a new community development of around 4,000 homes with associated community facilities, green areas and lakes on the 700-acre former Orgreave-Waverley surface mine site between Rotherham and Sheffield.
 
Part of the site housed a coking works which was the focus of violent clashes between miners and police during the 1984 miners' strike.

Read the UK Coal press release.

Roger Milne

28 August 2008