Jobs hope for ex-pit site

4:30pm Wednesday 13th August 2008

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A MAJOR financial institution is interested in setting up offices at a former Selby mine site creating hundreds of jobs, The Press has learned.

The firm has approached UK Coal about its Wistow Mine site in the district and is understood to be in discussions with Selby District Council before possibly filing a planning application with the authority.

A source told The Press the development, if it went ahead, would create about 200 jobs.

UK Coal spokesman Stuart Oliver said: “It’s true that a large organisation has expressed a genuine interest in setting up an information distribution centre on the site that would create a substantial number of white collar jobs, and opportunities for employment in the area.

“Discussions are ongoing, but we are hopeful that a satisfactory conclusion can be reached in the not too distant future.”

He said UK Coal had not actively advertised the site. “This supports what we have been saying about the satellite sites of the former Selby Mine creating opportunities for sustainable employment,” he said.

There has been significant local opposition to redevelopment of the former mine sites at Wistow and Stillingfleet.

When the planning application for the mining complex was originally granted in the 1970s, a condition was applied that the sites be returned to agricultural use when mining ceased.

Since the mines’ closure in 2004, villagers have campaigned hard for this return to agricultural use.

UK Coal has applied for a change of use at the site in 2005, but district planners turned down the application.

A subsequent appeal was mounted by UK Coal, but was later withdrawn. The company has now applied to North Yorkshire County Council as the mineral authority to delay the requirement to return the land to its former use.

When asked about the potential Wistow Mine development, Coun John Mackman, planning committee chairman, said there were many pre-planning inquires made about the former mine sites and information on such matters was confidential.