"We need coal": 250 jobs at risk as the North's last coal mine closes

A UK mining company has confirmed that 250 jobs are at risk as one of the country’s last coal mines closes today.

Banks Mining has announced that the Bradley Mine, in County Durham, will extract its last coal today (August 17) after an application to extend its operations was rejected.

The site is the penultimate surface mine in England, with only the Hartington Mine in Derbyshire still open - and set to close in the near future.

Banks Mining also owns sites in Scotland and South Wales, but said that the closure is putting 250 skilled jobs at risk.

Bradley Mine has been open for nearly two centuries and produces 150,000 tonnes of coal per year, but would only continue to be “commercially viable” if it could extend its operation.

The company has proposed a new mine in Northumberland, which would create 50 new jobs, but is waiting on a reply from local government minister Robert Jenrick.

Lewis Stokes, from Banks Group, told Sky: “We support the move to a cleaner climate.

“We’re not climate change deniers, we understand that. But at the minute, and for the short to medium term, we need coal.

“That’s why we need to keep mining coal here in County Durham and in Northumberland at our forward programme sites, because it makes economic and environmental sense to do just that.”