RESIDENTS in villages around the site of a potential multi-million pound green energy facility have shown overwhelming opposition to the plans.

Campaigners against the redevelopment of the North Selby mine site said they were stepping up the fight ahead of the planning application due to be submitted to City of York Council in February.

Members of North Selby Mine Action Group, formed in opposition to the £30 million bio-renewables research facility, surveyed 120 residents at a public consultation event in Escrick, and found 98 per cent were opposed to the development. The proposed facility would create electricity to power thousands of homes from biomass and food waste using an anaerobic digestor, an incinerator and a gasification plant, and would create more than 100 jobs for the area.

Mark Oldridge, a member of the action group, said the group objects to the possible reduction in air quality, and the pressure it would place on local roads, and had received support from technical experts.

He said: “At the moment we are gathering a lot of support from all sides. We have had some people contact us who are experts in the field of renewables who have looked at the plans and said they don’t stack up.”

A spokesman for UK Coal, who owns the site, said: “We believe the excellent facilities that are available in North Selby all the options for job creation should be fully explored.”