COUNCILLORS have joined forces with miners' leaders in an eleventh-hour attempt to save the Selby pit complex.

They have pledged to join a National Union of Mineworkers (NUM) delegation, which will plead with Tony Blair to keep the coalfield open with further Government subsidies.

Members of Selby District Council voted unanimously at its monthly meeting to support the NUM in its last-ditch stance.

The union's Yorkshire Area chairman Kevin Meloy told the council meeting that Trade and Industry Secretary Patricia Hewitt had recently approved further aid for the coal industry, but not for Selby.

He said: "This was very hard to take and our only hope now is to convince the Prime Minister that Selby has a future."

Mr Meloy said Selby's economy would lose £420 million in the first year after the pits closed and £250 million a year every year until 2011 - compared to the £35 million a year of Government aid that was needed to keep the complex open.

He said: "The Government is shelling out £1 billion a month to keep Britain's nuclear energy industry afloat and we are asking for £35 million a year - it just doesn't make sense.

"There are other mines which were also earmarked for closure but were saved because of pressure from local MPs and councils.

"We believe we can still save Selby."

Coun Steve Shaw-Wright said: "When you lose a pit, you also lose a community. Take a trip down the A19 to Askern and Bentley, former pit villages which now have no jobs and no future.

"All this talk of regeneration and urban renaissance is a waste of time. We need action, not empty words, to save the complex."

Conservative group leader Coun Mark Crane said: "Importing coal for Drax Power Station, when Selby coal is cleaner and on the doorstep, is absolute nonsense.

"There is no way in this world that the coalfield Task Force will be able to replace the 5,000 jobs that will be lost."

Updated: 15:27 Thursday, March 27, 2003