Coal limits agreed in Northumberland
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COAL LORRY numbers in Northumberland have been agreed with the National Coal Board.
This follows months of confrontation over lorry numbers between the NCB and the county since the miners' strike.
A make-or-break meeting has resulted in an agreement
for a maximum of 180 lorry loads a day leaving the NCB's Widdrington disposal point. This is fed now by the West and East Chevington coal sites, and will also handle the coal from the new Chester I louse opencast site when it is in production.
And when the Widdrington to Blyth rail line is reinstated this year NCB will send more coal by rail, so reducing lorry numbers to 90.
But the NCB wanted an average, not a maximum, of 180 loads a day — which could have led to 900 lorries on some days, the council feared. The council had once wanted a daily maximum of only 150.
But although the new agreement meets most of the council's wishes, it is unhappy that only an undertaking, not a legally binding agreement, has been reached.
The undertaking occurred just as NCB and Northumberland relations were about to deteriorate.
The NCB had refused to accept lorry number condi tions involved with the preparatory work at Chester [louse.