A DERELICT North-East cokeworks could play a key role helping to power homes in Norway.

Revised plans will be considered by Easington district councillors on Thursday for an electricity converter station proposed for the former Hawthorn Colliery and Cokeworks, between South Hetton and Murton, in east Durham.

The station would be the British end of a North Sea power link, allowing the transfer of high voltage electricity between Norway and the UK, for use around the National Grid network by 2008.

It would be linked by underground cable to a submarine cable entering the sea at Ryhope, near Sunderland.

Should the scheme win the go-ahead on Thursday, it will prevent the need for a public inquiry, due to start later this month, into original plans for the converter station and associated cabling.

The council turned down National Grid International's (NGI) first application, last year, after objections on visual impact grounds from nearby residents.

NGI, which appealed against the refusal of planning permission, has now submitted revised proposals.

The station would be situated on a flat, 400m by 100m fenced off area, reaching a maximum height of 25m, with access from the B1285 at Murton.

Reclamation and landscape work surrounding the site, including the development of community woodland, would help to screen it from neighbouring villages.

Should approval be granted, the four-day planning inquiry, due to start at Murton's Glebe Centre on Tuesday, January 28, would be cancelled.

But if councillors reject the new application on Thursday the appeal hearing will go ahead as planned.

* A full economic survey is being carried out assessing future use of the former Lambton Cokeworks site, on the Sunderland side of the boundary with County Durham, between Shiney Row and Burnmoor.

Options proposed by Sunderland City Council, English Partnerships and regional development agency One NorthEast include reclamation and landscaping to create a public open space with woodland and wetland, or with varying scales of housing.