Mayor marks start of colliery clean-up

WORK has started to recover almost 1m tonnes of coal at a former colliery.

Mayor of Doncaster Peter Davies yesterday marked the start of the new venture at Rossington Colliery by laying the first foundations.

Mr Davies said: “This is a terrific day for Doncaster in general and Rossington in particular.

“The work undertaken here by RecyCoal will bring tremendous benefits to the area including the creation of 70 jobs, and the reclamation of the land to allow 1,200 new homes to be developed. 

“Overall this is another great development for South Doncaster which will lead to the creation of hundreds of jobs in the longer term.”

The masterplan for the 112.5 hectare site will see more than 13m tonnes of colliery spoil cleaned up, 70 jobs created and 950,000 tonnes of coal recovered over four years for electricity generation.

RecyCoal will also use the site to train new employees for its growing business in the UK, the USA, Australia, Poland and South Africa. A variety of natural habitats will also be created.

Harworth Estates, the property and regeneration division of UK Coal, wants to build more than 1,000 homes on part of the site.

Tom Allchurch, chief executive of RecyCoal, said: “To be able to celebrate this momentous day with our invited guests is a testament to the determination by local authorities, businesses and individuals to transform this area into a place where local villagers can once again explore and benefit from.

“The first process of this development is the reclamation of coal from the spoil heap which the foundations laid today will form part of.”