Eco groups call for clarity over coal mine

Environmental groups have called for a mining company to "break its silence" over a controversial coal mine.

Plans to build the UK's first deep coal mine in more than 30 years were quashed in September, following legal action by two campaign groups against the government's decision to grant planning permission for the site near Whitehaven in Cumbria.

Now groups including Coal Action Network and Friends of the Earth (FOTE) have called on West Cumbria Mining (WCM) to make clear whether it intends to pursue its mining plans.

WCM has been approached for comment.

Challenges to the decision to approve the mine in 2022 were submitted by FOTE and South Lakes Action on Climate Change (SLACC).

They claimed the government did not take into consideration the environmental impact of burning extracted coal and focused only on running the facility.

At the High Court, Mr Justice Holgate said: "The assumption that the proposed mine would not produce a net increase in greenhouse gas emissions, or would be a net zero mine, is legally flawed."

WCM said at the time it would "consider the implications" of the judgement before commenting further.

FOTE campaigner Tony Bosworth said it was "high time" WCM came clean about its plans.

"Do they still intend to press on and try to build the mine or are they withdrawing their planning application?" he said.

In the coalition's letter to WCM, the group said the lack of public statements had left the "local community and the wider public in the dark".

It also asked about the company's revised timescale if it still had plans and if not, for the green space set aside for the mine to be given back to the community.

"There must be investment in west Cumbria to provide the jobs, hope and prosperity the area desperately needs," the letter said.

"We do not believe that the coal mine is the right way to do this."

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