Whitehaven: West Cumbria coal mine opponents consider legal challenge

Opponents of the UK's first major coal mine for 40 years are considering a legal challenge over its approval.

The Woodhouse Colliery scheme has been given the green light by Communities Secretary Michael Gove.

The mine near Whitehaven in Cumbria would dig up coking coal for steel production in the UK and abroad.

South Lakes Action on Climate Change told BBC Radio Cumbria it was mulling a judicial review, which could lead to the decision being quashed.

It is now launching a crowdfunding campaign to raise money to fight the plans.

Maggie Mason from the group, who is a former planner, said the site had originally been intended for tree planting and public open space.

"I truly believe that more people will suffer from this decision, even in Whitehaven, than will benefit and certainly in the rest of Cumbria," she said.

"Climate change has got to be tackled and this mine, regardless of the way it has been treated and spoken about by Michael Gove, will increase climate emissions globally.

"Whether we have lost the argument or not, experts and people all over the world are coming in to say that we are right."

She said if there was a "reasonable case" following legal advice that the group would put the decision forward for judicial review.

"I think it's very likely that it won't open - the market for coking coal in the UK of this type is vanishingly small and vanishing even faster," she added.

"I don't know if people will invest in getting the mine built and off the ground - I really hope alternatives come forward instead."

Mr Gove told the Commons on Thursday that the new coal mine would be "net zero", as he encouraged MPs to read the official report underpinning the decision.

Supporters argue the mine will create "well paid" jobs and reduce the need to import coal.

The project was initially approved by Cumbria County Council in 2020, but then there was a public inquiry and subsequent delays by the government over its fate.

It will not be used to generate power.

The National Union of Mineworkers said the last significant new mining project was the Selby complex, which was given planning permission in 1976.

Student Martha Rand, 20, from Grange-over-Sands and currently studying at Cambridge, said she was "truly disappointed" that the mine had been approved.

"It is vital that towns like Whitehaven and many others across Cumbria and the North are supported to flourish, but this is completely the wrong way to do it," said Ms Rand, a Green Party member.

"The steel industry will, and desperately needs to, move beyond using coal long before the end of the lifetime of this coal mine, and flooding even more coal into the global market will not help anyone.

"Even if it does provide a few jobs in the short term it is far more likely to harm young people than help us, by encouraging young people to train for jobs that will soon be obsolete, and in the process do yet more harm to the environment we all live in."

It is claimed the mine would create 500 skilled jobs, as well as potentially 1,500 more in the supply chain.

"It's a huge economic investment coming into the area," said Copeland's Conservative elected mayor, Mike Starkie.

"The mine has already been engaged with the local college, in terms of training people up."

Dave Cradduck, who worked at the former Haig Colliery which closed in 1986 with the loss of 3,500 jobs, said mining was "built into the soul of Whitehaven".

He said he understood the environmental concerns but the mine would "restore a bit of the pride to the people".

"We have finished up with a two-tier society where the people who work at Sellafield have high wages and other jobs coming into town are all minimum wage," he said.

"I keep waiting for all these green jobs, but they have been on the go promising green jobs and not one has appeared."

Copeland's Conservative MP Trudy Harrison, who is also an environment minister, said she was "disappointed" the decision had taken so long, and welcomed the investment as the mine would be in her constituency.

"I don't bounce out of bed every morning excited to open a coal mine - hear me loud and clear," she said.

"But I am incredibly pragmatic and I understand how necessary steel is and how necessary therefore coking coal is, and I also understand that it could be extracted in much more environmentally-sound methods, which is exactly what Woodhouse Colliery will do."

When quizzed on the coal mine on BBC Radio 4's Today programme, Education Secretary Gillian Keegan defended its approval as a "specific situation for a specific purpose and use - and it's not a long-term solution at all. It's a transition".

"First of all in terms of renewables our plan for net zero and our progress is still absolutely our number one objective. This is a very specific coking coal mine," she said.

"There's a lot of local support for this and what it is specifically, is it's coking coal to make steel and of course as part of our net zero, we will need a lot of steel, a lot of steel will be required to be made."

The decision was labelled as an "incomprehensible act of self-harm" by former government chief scientist Sir David King, who is also chair of the independent Climate Crisis Advisory Group.

"Our only real form of influence on the climate crisis in the world is seriously jettisoned by this action," he said.

Councillor Jill Perry, from Allerdale and Copeland Green Party, accused the government of trying to protect local Conservative MPs over the environment, and said although the decision was expected, she believed the battle was not over "just yet".

"[I was] shocked, disappointed, really sad actually, quite tearful for a moment but not surprised," she said.

"All the climate experts are saying this is a really bad decision.

"We want jobs here, of course we want jobs here, but we want green jobs with an industry or a burgeoning green industry that has a future, not dirty old coal that has no future."

Analysis by Richard Moss, BBC Look North political editor

As someone who grew up in West Cumbria, I remember the closure in 1986 of what everyone thought would be the area's final pit. Now almost four decades on, coal could be mined from deep underground again.

There has been local opposition, but also much support. A walk around Whitehaven is enough to convince anyone - and especially those who live there - that it needs an economic shot in the arm.

Whether a mine providing 500 jobs can be economically transformative is debatable, but with Sellafield close by, this is a community used to embracing industries with vocal opponents.

The detractors are not going away though. A legal challenge seems inevitable, and even government support seems muted.

When Boris Johnson was PM I understand he planned to be in West Cumbria to make the announcement, and trumpet it as levelling up in action. Yesterday, the decision emerged in a dry-as-dust news release at the dog end of the political day.

But there are challenges for local Labour politicians. Their party's national leadership has condemned the decision. Expect West Cumbrian Conservatives to try and make hay with that in an area that'll be keenly contested at the next election.

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