Headstocks saved from demolition

Campaigners have won a battle to preserve one of Nottinghamshire's last remaining mining landmarks.

Ashfield District Councillors voted to save the Annesley headstocks from demolition despite advice from planners to allow them to be knocked down.

Annesley Developments, which owns the site, had applied to demolish them as part of a redevelopment of the area.

Emma Fawcett, from Friends of Annesley Headstocks, called the decision "a victory for People Power".

They are a symbol of Nottinghamshire's proud mining history Emma Fawcett, Friends of Annesley Headstocks

"The developer has planning permission for 200 houses and some business units but the headstocks will have to play some part in that development," she said.

The campaign group will undertake a feasibility study to look at the future of the headstocks - the above ground buildings that house the mine's lift equipment.

It would cost an estimated £300,000 to restore them.

Mrs Fawcett said: "They are a symbol of Nottinghamshire's proud mining history."

The colliery site, which closed in 2000, was one of the first pits in the UK when it opened in the 1860s.