The government has thrown out plans for a new open cast coal mine in a Northumberland coastal beauty spot because it could undermine efforts to tackle climate change.
Sajid Javid, secretary of state for communities and local government, released his decision on Friday (23 March) to reject mining company’s Banks’ application to create a new open cast coal mine at Highthorn in rural Northumberland.
The decision over-rules a recommendation by an independent planning inspector to allow the scheme, which contains around 3 million tonnes of coal. Banks claimed that 100 new jobs would be created at the mine.
In his letter outlining his decision, Javid writes: “Overall the scheme would have an adverse effect on greenhouse gas emissions and climate change of very substantial significance.
“Greenhouse gas emissions from the proposed development would adversely impact upon measures to limit climate change.”
Friends of the Earth campaigned against the mine on the grounds it would send the wrong signal to potential energy investors about the government’s commitment to tackling climate change.
The environmental group, in its submission to the public inquiry into the scheme, argued that no new coal mines should be developed until existing ones have been exhausted.
The grounds for rejection also included the “considerable” harm it could cause to the local landscape. Overall, Javid rules that the scheme is not “environmentally acceptable”.
Gavin Styles, managing director of Banks Mining, said Javid’s decision was a fresh blow to the north east’s fragile economy, which has just been hit by the government’s decision to strip the contract to manufacture UK passports from a local firm.
“In the same week that the government decided to support passport manufacturing jobs in France instead of those in north east England, it has now demonstrated that it would prefer to source the coal that is essential for a variety of important industries across the UK, such as steel, house building and concrete production, from Russia or the US, rather than support substantial investment and job creation plans in our region.
“This is an absolutely perverse decision which flies in the face of the recommendation for approval given by Mr Woolcock, the planning inspector – the expert appointed by the government itself to assess this scheme – after his careful consideration of all the facts laid out at the public Inquiry, as well as the unanimous support we had for the scheme from an experienced, cross-party Northumberland County Council planning committee.”
He added: “It has been made for purely political reasons and is totally contrary to the principles of local decision-making that previously appeared so important to Mr Javid. The planning inspector’s clear and carefully-considered judgement was that ‘the national benefits of the proposal would clearly outweigh the likely adverse impacts’, yet Mr Javid has chosen to flagrantly disregard this expert opinion from the comfort of his London office without ever having taken the time to even visit the area in question.”