The Whitehaven coalmine’s planning application has been withdrawn, bringing an end to a process that could have created the UK’s first deep coalmine in 30 years in Cumbria.
Planning permission for the mine was quashed in the high court last year which meant the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government had to reassess the planning application. However, the company has now written to the government withdrawing its planning application.
The Whitehaven mine was ruled unlawful in September, with the judge agreeing with Friends of the Earth, which brought the judicial review. They had argued that Michael Gove, when he was secretary of state for levelling up, acted unlawfully in accepting a claim by West Cumbria Mining that the mine would be net zero and have no impact on the UK’s ability to meet the emissions cuts required under the Climate Change Act 2008. WMC was relying on offsetting through buying carbon credits from abroad; however, UK government policy does not allow reliance on international offsets to meet carbon budgets.
Emissions from burning coal from the proposed Whitehaven mine were not included in the developer’s climate assessment. New fossil fuel projects are thought to be on shakier legal ground after the precedent set by a landmark supreme court decision that quashed planning permission granted for an oil drilling well at Horse Hill on the Weald in Surrey. That judgment found the impact on the climate of burning coal, oil and gas must be taken into account when deciding whether to approve projects.
Tony Bosworth, climate campaigner at Friends of the Earth, said: “We’re delighted this long-running saga has finally drawn to a close. Congratulations to all the brilliant local campaigners who fought so powerfully to stop this mine.
“The previous government should never have given the green light for this highly polluting and unnecessary coalmine in the first place – and WCM should have pulled the plug on it last year when planning permission was comprehensively quashed and coal licences were refused.”
