UK announces inquiry into plans for metallurgical coal mine in West Cumbria

A public injury is set to take place on the proposal for a new coking coal mine in West Cumbria, UK, following a letter by the Secretary of State for Local Government calling in plans.

The notice from the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government sent to Cumbria County Council says the Cabinet Minister, Robert Jenrick, is ‘[calling in] this application because of the further developments since his original decision’, citing the Climate Change Committee’s recommendations for the 6th Carbon Budget as one of the reasons.

‘Furthermore, controversy about the application has increased. Overall, the Secretary of State considers that this application raises planning issues of more than local importance,” the letter reads.

Cumbria County Council originally backed the plans for the new mine encouraged by the employment potential to the area, that the coal from the mine could support steel making in the UK, and that using British coal would offset the carbon emitted by shipping from Australia or North America.

In the year the UK is set to host the climate summit, COP26, the government’s climate advisory Climate Change Committee expressed concerns around the mine’s opening.

In a letter to Jenrick, the Committee said that to meet its carbon-cutting timetable, steel firms would have to stop burning coal by 2035 – unless they fit expensive technology to capture the emissions and bury them underground.

These concerns included lack of CCS infrastructure and planned export of the coal.