Villagers are spared ‘lorry hell’, Teesdale Mercury

Villagers are “happy and relieved” after controversial plans to transport coal from an open cast mine by rail were approved – meaning it won’t be carried on roads through their community.

If the plans had been refused, people in Etherley and Toft Hill feared hundreds of lorries would pass through their villages every week.

More than 1,200 people backed the railway scheme, which was approved by Durham County Council last week.

But a similar number of people in Weardale objected to the project that pitted dale against dale.

UK Coal will now carry 1,500 tonnes of coal every day by road from its Park Wall North open cast mine near Crook to a new depot in Wolsingham, where it will be moved on by the Weardale Railway to fuel power stations in Yorkshire and Nottinghamshire.

Existing plans to transport the coal past hundreds of homes and a primary school along the A68, which locals say is already too busy and dangerous, will be now scrapped.

Residents and Etherley and Toft Hill Parish Council campaigned for the railway scheme, sending hundreds of letters and a petition in support. 

Councillor Martin Clark said people in the parish will be “happy and relieved” to hear the news.

“It’s a shame for those people in Wolsingham and it’s disappointing that some will be perceived as winners and some as losers, but I think the right decision has been made,” he said.

“The A68 just can’t cope with more heavy traffic going through these little villages – and when hundreds of lorries would be passing less than eight metres from a primary school, serious questions have to be asked.”

Cllr Clark said the actions of local residents had played “a big part” in “making sure the road didn’t get any worse”.

It’s been a case of people saying enough is enough,” he said. “It has also brought home that people in these villages can work together.”

The coal will now be transported by road for five miles between the mine and the depot, which is expected to open in two months’ time and create six jobs.

Objectors from Weardale said noise, dust and dangerous traffic would destroy residents’ quality of life.

But council planning officer John Byers said it was the better option, with the reduction in road miles affecting fewer people along the route, and producing fewer CO2 emissions. 

The council’s planning committee approved the scheme on a nine to three majority vote, with one abstention. Permission was given for the depot to be used by UK Coal for the next four years.