Charity says government must listen to continued concern over new coalmine plans
South Lakes Action on Climate Change (SLACC) says a petition [1] of 285,754 names, handed into the government on Tuesday 15th March, demonstrates continued and increasing concern over plans for a new coalmine for Cumbria. And that the government must listen.
The petition was presented to Michael Gove MP, by the Council for the Protection of Rural England, Friends of the Earth and Greenpeace, ahead of the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities making a decision.
Gove will base his decision on the recommendations of a planning inspector who held a public inquiry, last year (Tuesday 7 September to Friday 1 October).
The public inquiry was prompted by SLACC, which has been fighting plans by West Cumbria Mining (WCM) to build the UK’s first deep coal mine in 30 years, in Whitehaven. SLACC say, the mine would undermine the UK’s ability to meet its climate targets and add to the climate emergency.
As Carole Wood from SLACC explains: “The recent IPCC report highlights that human induced climate change is causing dangerous and widespread disruption in nature and affecting the lives of people around the world. Our community in Cumbria, like many others, already suffers from climate induced flooding. There should be no new coal mines anywhere, and the UK government must show the way.
“Boris Johnson signalled at the COP26 conference in Glasgow that he is “not in favour of more coal” but “it’s not a decision for me”. His minister could still say yes.
“After our two year fight, and an unprecedented level of national and global concern, Gove’s predecessor, ‘called in’ the planning application and held a four week public inquiry last September. We and Friends of the Earth spoke at that – as the only ‘Rule 6’ parties. We argued complementary points, each represented by a barrister and supported by academics and experts on climate change.
“In our submission to the inquiry we highlighted that the evidence indicates that the coal from the mine is not suitable for steel making because of the sulphur content” adds Carole.
SLACC believe their input into the inquiry, and the media discussion that it instigated, has made a significant contribution to both national and global opposition to new fossil fuel developments.
“Surely this petition should remind the government just how concerned people are, and that they need to say no to this coalmine,” concludes Carole.
The report and recommendation by the independent planning inspector is expected in the next few months.
For information on the six reasons why SLACC opposes the proposed Cumbria coal mine please visit https://slacc.org.uk/cumbria-coal-mine/
[1] 7 March 2022 – There are three petitions organised by: CPRE 10,000 target (9,263 to date); Friends of the Earth 75,000 target (62,675 to date) and Greenpeace 250,000 target (213,057 to date). The combined total is 335k (284,995k to date).IPCC 6th Assessment Report February 28th 2022
https://www.unep.org/resources/report/ipcc-sixth-assessment-report-climate-change-2022