ENGLISH Heritage has appealed to Kirklees planners to block plans to start open cast mining near Clayton West.

Gordon Harrison Ltd wants to extract 190,000 tonnes of coal and 40,000 tonnes of fireclay from land between the village and Bretton Hall Park.

The mining company has recently submitted extra information about its proposal after English Heritage said the original details were insufficient.

Representatives from Gordon Harrison Ltd have now met with English Heritage experts to explain their revised landscape restoration scheme.

English Heritage has now adjusted its position but repeated its advice that the mining plan should be refused.

It says while the plan is not as damaging as first thought it is still not convinced the harm will be outweighed by benefit to the public.

It goes on: “The application lies completely within Bretton Park, a nationally significant grade two registered landscape which is currently identified as a landscape at high risk.

“This park is particularly significant for its pleasure grounds of late eighteenth and early nineteenth century with earlier origins.

“The landscape is also significant for its association with Richard Woods and Robert Marnock, the latter head gardener during the early part of the nineteenth century.

“The proposed opencast area lies within former parkland developed by Thomas Wentworth in the early 19th century.”

A host of other groups have also objected to the plan including Skelmanthorpe Action Group, Wakefield Council and West Yorkshire Archaeology Advisory Service, who say there is the potential for late prehistoric/Roman and medieval period remains on the site.

No decision date for the plan has been announced by Kirklees Council.