CONTROVERSIAL open cast coal mining plans are due to get under way soon on a landmark site after a delay caused by endangered newts.

Workers were stopped in their tracks when an ecological survey by the owners of the Cutacre coal tip site which borders Atherton, Tyldesley and Little Hulton found dozens of colonies of great crested newts living there.

Machinery is now due to move on to the land which is dominated by towering rucks of coal waste once listed in the Guinness Book of Records as the largest man made spoil heap in Europe being formed from the unwanted material mined from the region's collieries which was tipped at the quaintly named Bluebell Hollow.

Initial work is due to start imminently and the mining operation on the 800-acre site could be underway by May.

A three-year programme of coal extraction will follow, including open cast mining at a shallow level and reclaiming useable coal which was years ago thrown away with waste at the sprawling tip.

UK Coal won the right to mine nine million tons of coal from the site at a Government inquiry in 2001 following a 20-year legal battle which infuriated locals.

The mining operation was due to start in 2002 but was shelved after a dip in coal prices. The company then abandoned plans for mining and decided to build a business park, until a sharp rise in the price of coal around 2004 made the original idea seem more viable.

The 322 hectares site is situated where the boundaries of Wigan, Bolton and Salford meet.

UK Coal spokesman Stuart Oliver said: "We hope to move on to the site early in the New Year and although there is some preparation work we hope that mining will start fairly soon after that.

"A number of newts have been moved to new colonies and obviously we weren't able to move on to the land before that had been done."

Mr Oliver said work would also be completed on access routes to and from the site.

When the mining plan is finished, an industrial estate will be created on the site where the spoil heap stands and landscaping will be carried out to create a haven for wildlife. But UK Coal still intends to develop the site as a business park and hopes to provide long-term job opportunities.

Over Hulton people had battled plans to mine coal because they feared the area would be covered in coal dust and wagons moving coal off the site would cause extra traffic.

But Cllr Alan Walsh, who heads a consultation committee set up to liaise with UK Coal, said the scheme could have benefits for the area.

"The ultimate benefit is that the tip will disappear," he said. "The amount of coal is much less than we had feared seven or eight years ago and there will be environmental benefits, plus the chance that some jobs will be created."