THE owners of a site between Selby and York earmarked for a controversial £30 million energy plant are deciding their next move after being hit with an enforcement notice.

City of York Council has ordered UK Coal to remove all its buildings and machinery from the North Selby Mine site, near Escrick, after ruling that planning controls have been breached.

The firm has two years to comply with the notice once it comes into force in June, leaving a question-mark over the future of a scheme to create a renewable energy plant in partnership with developers Peel Environmental.

UK Coal has said the project would create jobs, but it has been met with local opposition because the original planning application for the site stated it should become farmland once coal production there ceased. Science City York, which was originally intended to be involved in the scheme, withdrew last month.

Before the enforcement notice was issued, UK Coal said a new blueprint for the site would go out to public consultation later this year.

A spokesman for the partnership said: “We have received the notice concerning the removal of buildings and other structures from the North Selby Mine site. We are currently looking at the details of this to determine exactly what this means and how it might affect plans for the future of the site.”

Meanwhile, Christian Vassie, who was standing in the Wheldrake ward at today’s City of York Council elections and was the authority’s representative on the Selby Coalfield Consultative Committee, has warned UK Coal and Peel Environmental any plan which increased traffic on the nearby A19 would be “unacceptable”.

“There is no history of large volumes of material going to or from this site,” he said.

“Most people understand we have to reduce carbon emissions and reduce our dependence on imported fossil fuels.

“If the partnership wants to win hearts and minds for renewable energy, they will produce a plan for the site which brings direct benefits to residents without increasing traffic flows.

“This could be through cheaper energy bills and district heating or grants to fund insulation or renewable energy projects for our community buildings and homes.

“These could possibly be combined with a nature reserve or another community asset.”