CAMPAIGNERS have demanded answers to questions which still hang over plans to start mining coal again in Bolton.

Councillors say they hope to meet with UK Coal this month after it was revealed that the firm had started procedures that would allow them to start an opencast mining project at Cutacre, a 330 hectare site in Middle Hulton which borders Bolton, Salford and Wigan.

UK Coal revealed last week that the surging price of coal had once again made the scheme viable and have held talks with planning bosses to get the scheme under way as early as 2006.

But Cllr Alan Walsh, who represents the Hulton ward, fears roads in the area would be swamped with heavy traffic unless a proposed rail link is added to the site before mining starts.

A rail link could cost £7 million and Network Rail say work to create a spur from the line which runs between Atherton and Walkden could take several years to build because of other priorities.

Cllr Walsh said shipping all of the coal out by road would be unacceptable.

"The information we received six or nine months ago was that the scheme would be scaled down and that seemed to acceptable," he said.

"But now it has come back and there is a great deal of worry.

"If all of the coal has to be taken out by road then the situation changes considerably again.

"Unfortunately, UK Coal already has permission to mine the area but I would like to sit down with the council and the company to find out exactly what their plans are."

The company won the right to mine on the site in 2001 after a 20-year battle by residents who feared that the Middle Hulton area would disappear under a cloud of coal dust.

A spokesman for UK Coal confirmed that further talks were planned with both council officers and elected representatives.