First coal mined from foot of The Wrekin

The first coal has been mined from the foot of the Wrekin, it was confirmed today.

And UK coal bosses said the first lorry load of coal could be leaving the open cast mine, near Telford, to fuel power stations by the end of the year.

The firm said it had already found a coal seam on the site in Little Wenlock, near The Wrekin, and had started to extract the fossil fuel.

Stuart Oliver, UK Coal spokesman, said the first coal could be transported from the 230-acre Huntington Lane site in a "matter of weeks".

He said: "In the next few weeks we may be taking the first coal from the site to power stations. The coal seam has been intercepted. We have now located the coal seam. They have removed the soil lying over the seam.

"It is very shallow. it is the shallowest of the areas to be worked on, probably tens of feet down."

He said they wanted to build up a stockpile of coal supplies before transporting it.

The firm has permission to mine 900,000 tonnes of coal from the site.

Mr Oliver said the work was going to plan despite the delayed start so they could meet all the conditions of the planning approval.

He said: "We started work on the site within days of the 40 conditions attached to the planning consent having been signed off with Telford & Wrekin Council."

The firm has also had to deal with protesters who set up camp on the site more than seven months ago. The campaigners have ­been told by residents to "go home".

Resident Peter Whittle, from the Huntington Lane Surface Mine Community Liaison Group, which acts as a go-between for residents, the parish council and UK Coal, had said locals had had enough and felt the protesters were an "irritation". But protesters have said they will stay.

By Lisa Rowley