Underground heat in former coal mines around East Lancashire could be used to provide green and affordable warmth for homes and other buildings in future, councillors have been told.

East Lancs has dozens of old mine shafts which once produced coal. They could be reopened for new, cleaner and cheaper community energy networks, say campaigners.

If so, new energy arrangements could reduce our dependency on burning fossil fuels, including gas, which send emissions into the atmosphere and are also increasingly expensive. Elsewhere. traditional terraced streets could see electric vehicle charging points installed on lamp posts.

Pendle Borough Council is working on a range of climate change projects to boost both the generation and use of sustainable energy.

Ideas include local community energy schemes, which some other Lancashire authorities are also investigating. Elsewhere, Ribble Valley Borough Council has recently debated the pros-and-cons of green energy, carbon and gas reduction schemes.

Councillors in Pendle were told about greener systems to heat homes and buildings and power vehicles, including providing more electric car charging-points.

Conservative Cllr Sarah Cockburn-Price is involved with a climate change working group.

She highlighted a project in the north-east of England to use warm underground heat found in coal mines to heat buildings, which had made good progress.

In Pendle, old coal mines around Colne were being looked at to see if they too could supply heat for local use.

She said: “There is a lot of activity going on. We think community energy schemes are things people would get behind.  Coal mine shafts can generate energy like ground source heat pumps.

“There are 60 coal shafts in Colne and 30 around Coal Pit Lane. Could we exploit some of those old shafts, to be reopened to create ground source heat energy for Pendle? We have a lot of things to investigate.

She added:  “Another development is using lamp posts in terraced streets to install charging points for electric cars. Sixty per cent of houses in Pendle are terraced  houses. Wouldn’t it be great if we could do that?

In the future, electric batteries could become a problem and hydrogen-related energy could become more widespread. The climate working group will look at a range of options and she hoped to get more people involved.

“Most importantly, we can spend our money to help residents,” she emphasised.

Cllr Nadeem Ahmed, council leader, said: “I think this is a really important report. Quite a lot has been done in the past six months and there’s room for more work in the future. with examples of opportunities that could come.”

The pandemic has hampered climate change work with the community but Pendle Council is now keen to widen participation in the activities. 

Nelson & Colne College and local schools have been involved in the past. Further work is planned, according to an update report for the borough's policy committee.