COUNCIL chiefs have approved plans to dig about 290,000 additional tonnes of coal at a North-East surface mine which developers said sustains about 150 jobs.

Banks Mining, part of Durham City-based Banks Group, had requested permission to work an additional area on the western side of its existing Shotton surface mine in Northumberland, which it has named Shotton Triangle.

The extraction will take two years, and will run concurrently with the existing site, which is located on the Blagdon Estate to the west of Cramlington.

No overall extension of time is required for this additional extraction, with restoration of the entire Shotton site still scheduled to be carried out by October 2019.

A separate planning application regarding an area in the south west of the Shotton site, known as Shotton South West, was approved by the County Council during the summer.

Mark Dowdall, Banks’ environment and community director, said:

“Coal will remain a central part of the UK’s energy mix for the foreseeable future, with production from appropriate domestic sites such as Shotton and Brenkley Lane being far more desirable from an economic, employment and environmental point of view than relying on imports from often-unstable overseas markets.

“We have worked successfully in this part of Northumberland for more than three decades, and the Shotton Triangle and South West projects will help us reinforce our position as one of the county’s largest private sector employers.”