After two and half days, the Hearing on our Coal Mine legal challenge is over. Maggie Mason, Henry Adams and Chris Rowley travelled to London , and attended the Royal Courts of Justice for the entire Hearing. Other supporters joined us for all or part of the time, and there was a good presence on the street outside the Court for much of Tuesday and Wednesday. All three of us felt really supported by both SLACC and Friends of the Earth, but also the Weald Action Group and their campaigner Sarah Finch. Read our official press release here.
Our legal team, Estelle Dehon KC and Rowan Clapp of Cornerstone Barristers, and Matthew McFeeley of Richard Buxton Solicitors did an amazing job, alongside Friends of the Earth legal team, headed by Paul Brown KC. James Strachan KC, representing West Cumbria Mining, did his level best to present their case in a favourable light, leaving a limited amount of time for our legal team to point out lots of paragraphs/references that proved we were correct. Richard Honey KC attended the court to represent the Secretary of State, Angela Rayner, and spoke occasionally to answer questions from the Judge.
We do not know when Mr Justice Holgate will issue his judgement. It could be a month or more, but we think it will just be emailed out. – No big trip to London. If he rules in our favour the Planning Permission will be quashed, and the application goes back to the Secretary of State. She will have to have another Public Inquiry, and we might be able to show how right we (Henry) was on green steel! WCM could Appeal if we won the High Court case though, and vice versa.