Coal extraction at Stobswood began in 1990

Northumberland County Council turned down proposals from UK Coal for a 110 acre extension to their site at Stobswood, near Morpeth.

The council's planning committee said the work would have an unacceptable impact on the local community.

Under planning regulations UK Coal have the option of an appeal.

The plans, including a temporary road bridge and underpass, would have allowed the extraction of a further 1.7m tonnes of coal and 63,000 tonnes of fireclay.

However, Northumberland County Council's Planning and Regulation Committee ruled that this would cause further disruption to local residents.

Review options

Principal Planner, Karen Ledger, said: "The opening of a new area of land for opencasting would result in an unacceptable impact on the quality of life of the local communities and on the local environment."

According to UK Coal, the refusal could lead to 155 of the 250 workforce losing their jobs by next year.

Stuart Oliver from UK Coal said: "We are very disappointed, as are 155 the people who will lose their jobs as a result of this decision.

"It is quite likely that some of these redundancies will be in the run up to this Christmas."

The company will review their options once they have received the council's official reasons for their decision.

Stuart Oliver said: "The planning process embraces the possibility of an appeal."