COAL site dangers will be highlighted when opencast watchdogs meet.

Atherton councillor Sue Loudon will raise abandoned opencast safety concerns when she speaks to coalgetters Rackwood Colliery Company.

And the company has promised to carry out safety checks and pump out any water which may have collected on site.

North Road resident Clyde Richards set the alarm bells ringing highlighting his fears to The Journal when off-school youngsters were spotted taking a chilly dip.

He warned:"The site isn't properly fenced and it's an attraction for children. I couldn't believe it when two youngsters were spotted swimming there."

He claims low security means the site has also attracted coal and topsoil thieves to the site.

He is furious about plans to reinstate the site and footpaths running across it have been put on hold because of another coal extraction plan.

He said:"We went to all the meetings before work started and it was agreed on a three year working period and then the land would be reinstated.

"But Rackwood has changed the goalposts. Nothing has been done on that site for the past seven months. That is because the company has put in an application to wash buried coal from the Gadbury tip and use the waste to fill the hole they've left. It's a big hole which has been left like a bomb site."

But he says the new plans will just prolong the agony for locals and would mean the land would be out of bounds for seven years, not the three years initially promised.

Cllr Loudon said :"We cannot enforce conditions to reinstate the site and footpaths because of the pending Gadbury planning application.

"I must say the projected reinstatement plan seems impressive - but it would be nice to have the fields, trees and more pathways back without having to endure more coal working.

"I have been assured if the latest plan does not receive approval then reinstatement conditions will be enforced."

A company spokesman said:"We had two large settling lagoons surrounded by barbed wire and razor wire but youngsters came with planks and towels and got through. We even found adults with them enjoying a day out. It was quite ridiculous.

"We pumped the water out and it left two feet of sludge in the bottom and the kids waded around in the mud. So we dug that out.

"We will check the site and if there is an element of danger we will do something about it."

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