PLANS for an open cast mine in Trowell have been put back after the planning application was declared "invalid".

UK Coal applied for permission to extract 1.275 million tonnes of coal and 250,000 tonnes of fireclay by opencasting at Shortwood Farm.

A decision was set to be made on the plans at a Notts County Council meeting on September 30.

But the planning department at Notts County Council found the certificate of ownership - a legal requirement accompanying planning applications - was found to contain an administrative error.
UK Coal will now have to resubmit the application and a new consultation will have to take place before a decision is made.

Sally Gill, Planning Group Manager at Notts County Council, explained: "No legal provision exists for the defective certificate of ownership to be corrected, whilst keeping the application live. So, in light of the clear legal advice we have received, we have no alternative but to invalidate the Shortwood application and return it."