UK Coal says it has considered local residents' concerns about the plans

Pit owners UK Coal want to access about five million tonnes of coal in the Great Heck area in the next six years.

Residents had raised concerns about subsidence from the deep mine and UK Coal revised its original application to address those concerns.

Kellingley, which employs 650 people, is one of only five working pits in Yorkshire and North Nottinghamshire.

Safeguard jobs

"In extraction industries like coal mining it's not uncommon for people to have concerns," said UK Coal spokesman Stuart Oliver.

"But Kellingley has been mining coal very successfully over a number of years.

"The value of the coal is about �170m although it costs a lot to extract.

"It is good for the workforce and our customers who have a reliable source on their doorstep."

Over the next two years, UK Coal will develop new reserves guaranteeing production for what they describe as "the foreseeable future".

Coal reserves at the new site were originally allocated to a mine that was closed in the early 1990s.