BATTLE lines are being drawn over whether two areas of green land should be earmarked as potential opencast mining sites.

Opencast operator ATH Resources has proposed that Durham County Council declare two sites near High Pittington, east of Durham City, to be strategic coal sites.

However, villagers are furious at the suggestion.

County councillor Carol Woods said: "I think opencasting these sites would cause a tremendous amount of disruption and it’s not appropriate to spoil the countryside round these villages.

"Also, the council should be moving to renewable energy and not destroying our countryside to fuel more coal power stations."

The sites, known as Pittington North and Pittington South, lie close to the A690 near West Rainton and between High Pittington and Sherburn, respectively.

A consultation on which land across County Durham should be considered strategic coal sites will close on Friday, February 11.

However, it is understood council chiefs do not consider the High Pittington sites to fall into this category and will instead consider them as part of a subsequent consultation exercise.

Any attempt to create a new opencast mine would be subject to the usual planning process and no applications have yet been made.

Ian Thompson, the council’s corporate director for regeneration and economic development, said: "We will judge any application based on the mineral documents we have.

"These sites do not fit into our key sites strategy but they need to be properly considered and debated."

A joint meeting of Sherburn, Pittington and West Rainton parish councils will be held to discuss the issue on Tuesday, January 25.