A NEW gas fired power station will be built in North Yorkshire.

the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy gave permission on Thursday for Eggborough Power Limited to built the new station at its site near Selby.

The application was first submitted in May 2017, and once complete, the station will be able to provide electricity for more than two million homes, with up to 1,200 jobs created during construction, and 70 more once the plant is up and running.

Plans for the development will also include a new underground gas pipeline connecting the site to the UK's natural gas network.

James Crankshaw, head of engineering at EPL, said: "We are delighted with the Secretary of State’s decision to grant consent.

"Eggborough has been a significant part of the UK energy landscape for over 40 years and this consent provides an opportunity for the site to continue to play a key role in both the local economy and in the security of electricity supplies nationally."

The four-unit power plant was built in 1970 with an expected life-span of 25 years, and Eggborough supplies about five per cent of the electricity in the UK - equivalent to powering around two million homes.

Owners said in February that the plant had ceased "to be economically viable to continue operations", and the facility directly employed about 170 people from April.

The owners expected a number of potential redundancies, subject to consultation with staff representatives, with up to 130 employees affected, they said in February.

Construction of the new plant could begin in mid-2019.