From where will we now buy our coal?
WIDESPREAD dismay throughout the heritage railway sector has greeted the decision by Newcastle City Council to refuse planning permission for a new surface coal mine – with fears that the cost of importing supplies from abroad may force some lines to cease operation.
On December 18, the Labour-controlled council’s planning committee concluded a three-hour hearing by unanimously turning down a joint application by Banks Mining and Ibstock Brick to extract 800,000 tonnes of high quality coal and 400,000 tonnes of fireclay for the brick-making
