Former railway embankment and public footpath near Ellington on fire internally for four years

A planning application has been submitted by the site’s owner The Crown Estate seeking to work with the Environment Agency and engineering consultants to extinguish an internal fire at the site and safely restore the embankment.

The planning statement said: “The proposals are to restore the embankment, including the public right of way, on its former route.

“To achieve this the embankment shall need to be treated, i.e. the fire extinguished, physically stabilised, and reconstructed using suitable restoration materials.”

It is thought the internal fire first began when a surface fire spread to the embankment, which began to burn internally due to the flammable materials it was built with originally.

The railway embankment previously served the colliery in Ellington and was more recently a public footpath, until access had to be restricted in May 2021 due to the fire in the interest of public safety.

A fire break was built at the site in 2022 to prevent the fire from spreading further.

If Northumberland County Council green-light the work, a small section of the embankment will be restored to ensure the process will work, before the rest of the burning area is tackled.

Work will remove the existing disused underpass in the embankment and replace it with a break in the embankment to allow north-south access.

Vehicle routes to the site will also be improved under the plans to allow HGV access.