FEARS that a 67-acre coal mine on the moors above Burnley and Bacup could wreck an area of beautiful countryside have been voiced by Burnley MP Peter Pike.

Wakefield company Corbex, has applied to Lancashire county council for permission to remove 500,000 tons of coal and clay from Heald Moor and Thieveley Pike in a two-year operation.

But Mr Pike has joined Rossendale residents in objecting to the proposal "in the strongest possible way".

In a letter to planning chiefs he says that even if work were commenced it would not be completed and the site would be left a mess.

"Past experience has shown this to be the case and bonds never seem sufficient to put the site right - the public sector then has to meet the cost."

The MP says the site is extremely visual and in a beautiful part of his constituency.

"The work would be seriously damaging to the environment and the proposal should be rejected."

Mr Pike joined a successful campaign to prevent mining on Heald Moor six years ago and believes the same objections apply to the new application.

A spokesman for the applicants said the company had been working closely with the Environment Agency and stressed the development consisted of a new environmentally-friendly form of mining.

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