CEGB seeks lorry option for coal
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PERMISSION for more coal lorries to feed the Didcot, Oxfordshire power station is being requested by the Central Electricity Generating Board.
And there is a strong possibility that coal hauliers throughout the country will benefit from the CEGB's further consideration of its transport policy.
In what some have labelled as a test case for environmentalists, the CEGB has applied to the Vale of Whitehorse District Council for permission to run up to 200 lorries a day into Didcot from the Nottinghamshire coalfield. At present around 100 are running, it has been estimated. The CEGB has also asked that if rail supplies of coal do not reach the power station — as in the miners' strike — it can use an unlimited numbers of lorries.
'['he Vale of Whitehorse's planning committee meets on Monday, and if permission is given the stepped up lorry operation could begin immediately, said Vale of Whitehorse's assistant director of planning John Rawlings.
But by last Tuesday there had been 24 sets of representations including those from county councils, district councils and residents' bodies, Mr Rawlings said. Most of the representations are against the CEGB's application. The Department of Transport has said that it does not have any objection to the effect of the increased traffic on the roads, It is expected that the A34, which runs through Birmingham and Stratford-upon-Avon, and the A43 which travels through Kettering and Northampton, would be used.
The CEGB is presently reviewing its long term contract with British Rail which involves the movement of around 60m tonnes of coal a year. It is considering the wider use of road at many of its 45 coal fired power stations, a CEGB spokesman said.