A SCHEME to wipe away the last traces of mining from County Durham's countryside could receive approval next week.

Durham County Council's cabinet will meet next Tuesday to consider proposals costing £1m to improve former colliery sites that have been reclaimed.

The scheme is being regarded as an in-land version of Turning the Tide, the multi-million pound scheme that cleared coal dust from the county's coastline.

Over the past 30 years, the council has removed acres of dereliction and scores of pit heaps, but the result was sometimes degraded, poor quality farm land that looked little like the landscape that existed before the mining boom.

Now the council has drawn-up plans for second phase reclamation to restore the natural features and wildlife habitats damaged by mining.

The Woodland and Wildlife Project will see woodland, flower-rich meadows, marshes and ponds in glades created on more than 600 acres of land. The work will provide habitats for wildlife including otters and water voles.

The project is part of a £5.8m scheme involving English Nature that aims to revitalise the western end of the River Wear catchment area and most of the former Durham coalfield.

It seeks to enhance the environment and provide community benefits, particularly around Tow Law, Willington, Coundon, Spennymoor, the Cong Burn and Twizell Valleys near Chester-le-Street, Stanley Burn and the Deerness Valley. A further area of the River Wear corridor, from Low Barns to Croxdale, near Durham City, will be the focus of wildlife activities.

Councillor Bob Pendlebury, cabinet member for sustainability, said: "The Durham Coalfield suffered from extensive deep coal extraction followed by widespread opencast mining, which destroyed natural features and wildlife on a huge scale.

"With the help of voluntary and community groups in the areas involved, our Woodland and Wildlife Project would restore the nature conservation value of land and demonstrate sound environmental sustainability.

"It will involve a significant financial commitment by the council, as the inclusion of our farmland would lose us its commercial re-sale value, but this is an important investment in the county and for future generations.