COUNTY councillors are being asked to visit the site of a proposed trench mining site on the moors above Burnley and Bacup before deciding a planning application.

The controversial plan to extract clay and coal from Thieveley Quarry site, Heald Moor, has met with widespread opposition.

Wakefield company Corbex plan to remove 500,000 tons of coal and clay in a 67-acre trench mine.

Objectors include the Civic Trust, Cliviger Parish Council, Burnley Council, local residents and Burnley MP Peter Pike.

They have expressed fears that work will pollute spring water supplies to homes, contaminate rivers, harm wildlife, damage the landscape, cause dust and noise pollution, cause landslides and leave a permanent scar on the landscape.

Burnley's development control committee is demanding that if permission for the work is granted, the cash bond should be big enough to guarantee restoration will be done.

The county development control sub-committee will be asked on Wednesday to visit the site before making a decision.

A Corbex spokesman said they had been working closely with the Environment Agency and stressed the development consisted of a new environmentally-friendly form of mining.

Restoration would be progressive and the site restored to moorland grassland habitat.

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