Over and out for last miners

The last miners have emerged blinking into the winter sunlight after the completion of an eight-year project to ensure the safety of homes over old quarry workings in Bath.

Teams of miners - many from them from south Wales - have been at the heart of the £166 million Combe Down Stone Mines stabilisation project.

The scheme - funded by the Government's Homes and Communities Agency and overseen by Bath and North East Somerset Council - will come to an end with the reinstatement of Firs Field next spring.

Over the last eight years, more than 60 acres of limestone mine have been filled with foamed concrete in what has been the largest project of its kind in the world.

The team of miners were greeted by council cabinet member for major projects Councillor Terry Gazzard (Con, Abbey), to thank them for their work.

He said: "The council has invested substantial amounts of time and resources into this project which will not only provide stability underground, but also greater stability and certainty in people's lives. The hundreds of miners who have worked so efficiently and safely must be given credit for their excellent work."

Local people have been full of praise for the way in which contractor Hydrock has worked closely with them, the council and HCA to make the project proceed as smoothly as possible.

The HCA's land stabilisation programme manager David Keeton said he was pleased with the project's progress.

He said: "That such a complex project, with so many other issues to deal with besides the obvious engineering problems, will be completed on time and on budget is a huge achievement for all the organisations involved and they should take great credit for that.

"However, without the skill, knowledge and bravery of the miners working underground in very dangerous conditions none of this would have been possible. The miners became part of the solution and part of the community over the eight years or so they have been in Combe Down. I and the HCA are very proud to be associated with them and their work on this project."

Some 700 houses lie over the mines from which stone was mined to build Georgian Bath.

Over the decades, so much stone has been taken out that the mines became unstable, with only a fragile roof separating the roads above from the workings.