PLANS have been resubmitted for a £1.5bn potash mine in a national park, along with an underground conveyor belt linking it to a processing plant on Teesside.

The proposals to create what could be Europe’s largest potash mine at Sneaton, near Whitby were officially submitted to the North York Moors National Park authority today (Tuesday, September 30).

The park authority was due to consider the proposals for the mine in July last year. But days before a decision was due to be made, Sirius Minerals asked the authority defer the decision to give it time to address any outstanding environmental queries.

The revised plans have now been simultaneously submitted with two other plans from Sirius Minerals linked to the development. One is for a Mineral Transport System (MTS) to transport the potash underground across the North York Moors to a facility at Teesport in Teesside.

The original plans involved transporting polyhalite in “slurry” form through a pipeline. But now Sirius Minerals intends to transport its product via a six metre diameter tunnel, containing a conveyor belt. The 250 metre deep tunnel would run 37km from the mine site to Wilton, near Redcar, where the extracted mineral would be granulated for export.

A third set of plans - for the Materials Handling Facility at Wilton - have been submitted to Redcar and Cleveland Borough Council.

Decisions are now expected in January.

Consultation is also ongoing over building a harbour at Teesport to ship polyhalite abroad. Those plans are expected to be complete in December.

The mine, to extract the fertiliser mineral polyhalite, known as the York Potash Project, is expected to create about 1,000 direct jobs and a further 2,000 indirect jobs.

Chris Fraser, managing director and chief executive of Sirius said: “We believe we have a compelling planning case that clearly demonstrates that the York Potash Project can deliver exceptional economic benefits, not only locally here in North Yorkshire and in Teesside but also for the wider UK economy.

“We have planned the project with a very high regard for the environment and where possible minimising associated impacts.”

The plans have already come under fire from two organisations campaigning for the interests of the national park; the North Yorkshire Moors Association (NYMA) and the Campaign for National Parks (CNP).

Chairman of the NYMA, Tom Chadwick, said they were especially concerned about the impact of construction traffic and the impact on tourism, adding: “We still regard this enormous industrial development as inappropriate in the national park and maintain that the mine head could be located outside the park and that it is a question of cost to the developer versus cost to the environment."

Chief Executive of the Campaign for National Parks, Julian Woolford, said: “This proposal for Europe’s largest potash mine is not only a threat to the North York Moors but is of much wider significance as the decisions made on it will be an important test of the planning protection for national parks.”