RESIDENTS in villages across the north of County Durham are joining forces to block plans for a large open-cast mine that could see 240 heavy trucks rumbling through quiet streets every day.

Villagers in West Rainton, who are currently battling plans for a large housing development in their village, and people in several neighbouring villages are against plans for a 66-acre open cast scheme at Wheatley Head.

West Rainton, Bournmoor, Fence Houses and Woodstone Village, all in the Chester-le-Street area, will be affected by an average of 240 truck journeys a day through their quiet streets.

Clay Services Limited, part of the Tow Law-based Banks Group, wants to extract 550,000 tonnes of brickshale and 125,000 tonnes of coal over 26 months.

Nearby villages already have 140 trucks trundling through their streets every day, going to and from the Marks Quarry landfill site, nearby to Wheatley Head.

Tom Harland, Chester-le-Street District councillor for Bournmoor, said: "We already have to put up with these 40-tonne trucks trundling through our narrow streets. Now we're expected to have nearly twice that many.

"This part of County Durham has been inundated with schemes like this over the last 15 years. We've had open cast mining at Great Lumley and Marks Quarry in West Rainton. All these places have heavy trucks constantly going to and fro."

Most of the additional traffic from the site will travel north along Pit House Lane towards the A1052, then westward on the A183 to the junction with the A1.

Chester-le-Street District Council also "strongly object" to the proposals on the grounds of an increase in traffic.

Mark Dowdall, The Banks Group's environmental manager, said: "We've commissioned a noise and vibration survey which showed the lorries cause no structural damage to nearby houses.

"We are aware that people are concerned that if we get the go-ahead, we keep the environmental impact to a minimum - and we intend to do that."

Durham County Council says the plan will go before its planning committee when the consultation process is completed.

l Earlier this week, residents in Grange Villa, to the west Chester-le-Street, were dismayed to learn that Hett Hills landfill site will continue to operate for an extra six months