A MINING firm criticised for causing ecological damage with the creation of an opencast coalmine is backing a campaign to protect hedgehogs from harm.

Banks Mining is supporting Jacqui Clarke, who runs the Hedgehog Hotel, a hedgehog rescue and rehabilitation centre based in Dipton, near Consett.

Nearby the company is excavating land to remove 500,000 tonnes of coal and has faced opposition from residents concerned about the destruction of wildlife habitats.

Ms Clarke approached Banks Mining to sign up to the British Hedgehog Preservation Society’s ‘Hog Heroes’ campaign for its operations at its Bradley surface mine, which sits off the A692 between Leadgate and Dipton.

Reminder stickers have been placed on a range of machinery and equipment at Bradley to encourage the team to check around the area for hedgehogs before starting work, while information is being made available on site around how best to spot hedgehogs and their nests.

Lewis Stokes, community relations manager at Banks Mining, said: “We already undertake a great deal of work to protect and support wildlife habitats around all our surface mine sites, both during and after coaling.

“Surface mines provide a home for a very diverse variety of different bird, insect and mammal species during their operations, with skylarks, peregrine falcons, deer and otters often being seen around them, and the undisturbed space that the overburden mounds provide often mean that their populations significant increase while we’re working.”

Ms Clarke, a registered hedgehog carer, works closely with a network of others in Durham and its surrounding communities to save hundreds of hedgehogs between them each year.

She said: “Hedgehogs have seen a huge decline over the past couple of decades, mainly due to more roads and traffic and the fencing-off of gardens.

“Sadly, we are constantly admitting severely-injured hedgehogs with life- threatening injuries, and if we don’t increase awareness, we fear they will soon be on the endangered list.

“Our aim is to persuade local councils, businesses and members of the public to do a simple five minute check around hedges and gardens for wildlife before operating things like strimmers and gardening equipment.

“It’s a small step that will make a big difference to the safety of thousands of our spiky friends, and we would also love to encourage people to make ‘hedgehog highways’ to their gardens to allow them to roam more freely.”

The firm said it has plans to create a wide range of wildlife habitats during the eventual restoration of the Bradley site after the mining work is over.

The restoration is due to be complete by August 2021.

Protestors have said the damage to environment and species which lived in the area will have already been done by then.

Anne Harris, from Coal Action Network, which opposed the development, said: “Opencast extraction destroys all of the biodiversity which lived on this piece of land and coats the surrounding area with dust which affects the ecosystems.”

“When Banks puts back the material it has piled aside, there will be sterile earth little equipped to support diverse species.”