UK coal supply refused
NEWCASTLE CITY Council has refused to grant planning permission for a new surface coal mine at Dewley Hill. The decision has thwarted hopes of the heritage railway sector of securing affordable coal for use by steam locos. Heritage lines that use steam locos made representations to Newcastle’s planners, as did the National Traction Engine Trust, the Heritage Fuels Alliance, the Heritage Alliance and the Association of British Transport & Engineering Museums. They were supported by Sir Peter Hendy, Chairman of Network Rail, who said: “Steam on the main line attracts tens of thousands of spectators, warming the market for our railway in general, and the two Science Museum Group museums in the North East, Locomotion at Shildon and the National Railway Museum at York attract 750,000 visitors per year, lured by the romance and operation of steam locomotives. With the remaining stocks of English coal, this should supply UK steam locos until early 2021. The financial burden loco operators and heritage railways would face in adapting their steam locomotive fleet to burn alternative fuels would be impossible to overcome. Approval of the Dewley Hill mine scheme would bring a reprieve to the nation’s heritage steam loco operators, currently dependent on the dwindling availability of homeproduced coal.”
Steve Oates, the Heritage Railway Association’s CEO, said: “The decision is a huge disappointment. We spoke at the planning committee meeting and we had argued a strong case. UK-produced coal generates a fraction of the CO2 emissions created by extracting and then shipping coal half-way round the world to the UK. And it costs less in financial terms, too. Keeping Britain’s heritage railways running with affordable locally produced coal would secure the future of a sector that sits at the heart of the country’s industrial and cultural heritage, and generates millions for the leisure and travel sector.”
Current stocks of English steam coal will only last into early 2021, while Welsh coal supplies are expected to run out in 2022. This will leave the more expensive and complicated importation of coal from overseas. Finding a consistent and reliable supplier will also be very challenging.