Opencast coal plan suits council

Dumfries and Galloway Council has recommended the plans be approved

A major opencast coal mine development in southern Scotland has been given council support.

The scheme by ATH Resources promises to deliver 100 jobs at the Rigg site near Kirkconnel in Dumfries and Galloway.

Local councillors meeting in Dumfries have recommended the plans to extract 1.3m tonnes of coal be approved with a string of conditions.

The final decision on the project will now be delivered by the Scottish Government.

Last year ATH launched a conveyor belt between the nearby Glenmuckloch open cast mine and a railhead at New Cumnock in Ayrshire.

Now the company hopes to extend that line to reach the new site.

Councillors heard concerns from local residents about the level of dust and noise which the development would produce.

However, they agreed that conditions attached to the project should help address those issues.