BARNSLEY Main pit head will be developed as a tourist attraction as part of a £1.8m Heritage Lottery Fund scheme to improve the Dearne Valley landscape.
The Dearne Valley Landscape partnership is working on a project following throughout the Dearne Valley. Barnsley Main is a key project within the scheme, and Barnsley councillors have been discussing it as part of a working party.
Coun Martin Dyson said: "It's a hugely important piece of Barnsley's heritage, and one of the last remaining monuments to our mining heritage. "We'd like to see it protected and secured, but opened up to the public for heritage walks and nature walks. We don't want a car park up there - we want to open up access from the nearby Hoyle Mill country park off Pontefract Road."
It is hoped the site will be ready for the 150th anniversary of the Oaks disaster - the worst mining disaster in English history - in 2016.
