PEOPLE living in the shadow of a proposed opencast mine are being offered "sweeteners" to back the scheme.

But The Northern Echo can reveal that as many as three-quarters of householders in surrounding villages are against the project.

Plans to extract coking coal and fireclay from a new surface mine in County Durham, with the creation of 60 jobs, were unveiled yesterday.

The country's biggest coal producer, UK Coal, is seeking permission to dig at a 126-hectare site near Tow Law, in the Wear Valley.

Last night, the company said it would finance the installation of a mains gas supply to Sunniside if the application is successful.

Bosses also promised to set up a community fund, which could generate £120,000 for other projects in surrounding villages.

The company wants to extract 1.27 million tonnes of coal and up to 500,000 tonnes of brick-making fireclay from Park Wall North.

The coking coal would be used in blast furnaces at steel plants, while fireclay would be supplied to brickworks.

UK Coal made an unsuccessful application for the mining project several years ago, involving more production from a bigger site over a longer period.

The latest, scaled-down project is said to take into account concerns expressed when the White Lea scheme was rejected in 1998.

Local organisations are carrying out a poll in Billy Row, Stanley, Sunniside and Roddymoor and will form their position on the result.

Peter Irving, chairman of Billy Row Community Association and the Hill Top Villages Partnership, said early indications showed an opposition of about 75 per cent.

"We are going to see what result the survey produces and we have said we will go with the majority," he said.

Durham County Council last night confirmed it had received the planning application, which will be discussed by councillors "in due course".