Amber Online

They didn't want Monkton Cokeworks to expand.

And after much effort they won the right to be heard at a public inquiry. But it was a wonder people affected by Monkton Cokeworks were heard at all. The inquiry in December 1987 was about their lives. But it wasn't held on their polluted estates. It was in the anonymity of Hebburn town hall, faced by legal eagles from the National Smokeless Fuels and flanked by council bureaucrats, that Monkton residents said enough was enough. They told an inquiry inspector he shouldn't allow NSF to build a power plant and 170 ft chimney near their homes. They demanded that at least one inquiry session should be held near their homes - so all those who suffered could be there. Some stood to give their evidence. It was less daunting to be on your feet in this oppressive, official atmosphere. Some brought soiled curtains. One brought a tape recording of noise from the plant at night. And Britain's the cradle of democracy, isn't it? So the inspector took notes, took note and sided with them. The local paper carried the headline : "We've won!" For a while there was delight - a victory after all the words and struggle. But the legal eagles were off to the High Court - a battlegrounnd which doesn't favour little voices. Now the decision's being reconsidered - on legal grounds. Meanwhile, developement has gone on anyway - new noise, a new chimney. Residents say the dirt is worse than ever. In the cradle of democracy, a lot of hopes are stillborn.