DEVELOPERS who want to build a £30 million energy plant on a former mine between York and Selby are appealing against an order to clear the site.

UK Coal was told in May it must remove all its buildings and machinery from the North Selby Mine site, near Escrick, after City of York Council said planning controls had been breached.

The enforcement notice came into force in June and gave a two-year deadline to comply.

But the firm, which planned to build a renewable energy plant at the site with developers Peel Environmental, has now lodged an appeal with the Government, meaning the matter will be dealt with at a public inquiry.

Mike Slater, the city council’s assistant director for planning and sustainable development, said: “The North Selby Mine site was initially granted consent subject to a condition which required any plant, buildings and machinery to be removed within 12 months from the date of the site’s closure.

“While the mineshaft and associated equipment has been removed, the buildings and other plant and machinery have not, and no restoration scheme has been agreed for the land. The council has served a notice on the landowners ordering them to remove the remaining plant, buildings and machinery from the site in the interests of improving the openness and visual amenity of York’s Green Belt. It is this notice which the landowners are appealing against.”

UK Coal did not want to comment on the decision to appeal. Its plans for the energy plant sparked opposition because the original planning application for the site stated it should become agricultural land once coal production ended.