Planning has been approved for 450 homes on an ex-colliery site in north Derbyshire.

Developer Welbeck Estates Company has gained permission for the scheme on the old Whitwell Colliery site along with employment space, a shop and offices.

The land has been unused for several years and a planning application was first submitted in 2018. Bolsover District Council's planning committee has now given its backing, pending certain conditions – including ensuring the former mine shafts are all safe.

According to planning documents, the housing will include a mixture of two, three, and four-bedroom detached and semi-detached properties.

The employment space "will be single storey, with some small scale units" intended for start-up businesses and existing "grow-on" firms in the area.

DerbyshireLive reports that it is expected the project will take around seven years to complete, with the first phase being housing-led on land north of Station Road.

Whitwell Colliery dates back to 1890 when the Shireoaks colliery company sank the first shafts into the ground.

Work continued for almost 100 years before its closure in the 1980s.