Protestors fighting plans to mine coal in the shadow of The Wrekin today defended their tactic of digging tunnels at the site.

A committee of residents and officials, led by Little Wenlock Parish Council clerk John Marcham, yesterday sounded a warning that the tunnels could collapse and injure walkers. It comes as signs warning people of the possible dangers have been put up around the site.

Fears were also aired that the underground excavations could free methane from the gas-rich coal in the area and poison visitors.

But Pat Judson, who is at the centre of a campaign to block UK Coal’s plan, criticised Mr Marcham’s decision to issue warnings.

Mr Judson said signs warning of the possible dangers had been put up and added: “In all the years that I have lived at New Works, never have warning signs been put up regarding ‘dangerous land, tunnels, methane gas’ by Little Wenlock Parish Council so I was quite surprised to see this.

“A shame that they could not have found time and energy to make people aware of the so called ‘dangerous workings’ on the opencast site.”

Mr Judson said no-one had fallen into a collapsed tunnel and he challenged Mr Marcham to produce details of anyone who had.

The protesters, who live in a makeshift camp near the site of the proposed mine off Huntington Lane, Little Wenlock, spent weeks digging a network of tunnels.

They claimed it would stop UK Coal from bringing diggers in and starting work to mine 900,000 tonnes of coal for fear of the tunnels collapsing and injuring someone.

Chris Crouch, for UK Coal, branded the action “irresponsible” at the time.

The Huntington Lane Community Liaison Committee yesterday voiced its safety fears over the digging.

Mr Marcham said there was a danger of someone being seriously injured by a collapse or methane leak.

He said the threat was posed not only to people walking on the site but also to the tunnellers.

A protestor known as Dawn said: “To suggest that activities carried out on site by protesters have rendered the site unsafe seem somewhat biased.”

She added: “The possibilities of a tunnel collapse or a methane leak have always been present on this site and its worth noting that even if there were a methane leak it couldn’t possibly poison people on the surface.

“The only new risks are to the tunnellers themselves who are well aware of all the dangers involved.”

By Simon Hardy