North Yorkshire County Council is set to give the go-ahead for Selby miners to dig out a new nine-million-tonne coal bonanza.

The Evening Press can reveal that county council chiefs are recommending approval of proposals to work a second coal seam, which will guarantee the future of the Selby complex for another decade.

The green light by County Hall, following backing for the plan earlier this week by Selby District Council, is a massive boost for Selby's 3,500 miners and RJB Mining boss Richard Budge.

Without permission to work the new Stanley Main seam reserves, worth almost £300 million, the coalfield's lifespan would have been reduced considerably.

It also means that RJB is now likely to avoid a lengthy and costly public inquiry, which some worried residents had called for amid fears of damage to property, agricultural land and Skipwith Common nature reserve.

Members of the county council's planning committee will be asked next Tuesday to endorse the recommendation in principle, subject to a number of outstanding issues being resolved.

Those issues relate mainly to the effects of subsidence, which will lower the surface by almost seven feet in places.

County council officers want to ensure that effective measures are in place to protect listed buildings such as Skipwith's St Helen's Church, and Skipwith Common, a Site of Special Scientific Interest.

But they also see the new coal reserves - bounded by Skipwith, North Duffield and Riccall - has an enormous asset to the Selby complex in maintaining output and securing jobs.

A County Hall source said they had conducted an extensive consultation exercise and the only objections had come from individual householders who, quite rightly, were concerned about the subsidence impact on their homes.

All the statutory consultees - English Nature, English Heritage, Ministry of Agriculture, internal drainage board and Selby District Council - had raised no objections.

Bill Rowell, RJB's managing director of deep mines, said: "Market pressures and poor geological conditions in the existing Barnsley seam have shortened the original life of the complex.

"The Stanley Main is low-risk coal and is necessary to sustain coal production for the next ten years."

Mining advisers say the vast majority of domestic properties should fall within the "slight damage" category, and independent consultants commissioned by RJB say all potential environmental impacts can be mitigated or engineered out.

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