West Cumbria Mining Ltd (WCM) today urged Cumbria County Council to support once more the company’s plans for a metallurgical coal mine off the Cumbrian coast.
The company’s comments follow yesterday’s (9 February) announcement by the local authority to return the application to its Development Control and Regulation Committee for redetermination. bit.ly/3tJEzGz
The council referred to the Committee on Climate Change report in December 2020 and recommendations for the UK’s sixth carbon budget for its decision.
The proposals have received local support as well as national and international opposition.
WCM, backed by Australian investment company EMR Capital Resources, hopes to extract coking coal from a deep mine under the Irish Sea off the coast of Cumbria near Whitehaven.
EMR Capital acquired a controlling interest in WCM on 3 June 2014.
The miner said that £34 million had to date been invested in the project which would be known as Woodhouse Colliery.
WCM noted that metallurgical coal was an essential specialist form of coal, listed by the EU as one of the bloc’s 27 critical raw materials.
“The planning application has been approved by CCC [Cumbria County Council] on three separate occasions, and the Secretary of State for MHCLG* has twice rejected requests for the project to be ‘called in’ (the latest on the 6 January 2021),” said chief executive Mark Kirkbride.
“WCM and its advisers are clear that the Committee on Climate Change report and sixth carbon budget are not factors which would have led the committee to reach a different decision.”
Mr Kirkbride added that the construction of wind turbines depended on high quality steel which is manufactured with large quantities of metallurgical coal.
“This status quo will not change within foreseeable timelines.
“The Committee on Climate Change Report contemplates the construction of vast numbers of wind turbines, which will require steel from UK and European steelmakers.
“Metallurgical coal for these producers is currently imported over long distances from the USA, Australia and Russia.
“We have a real opportunity to reduce the dependence on overseas imports and the offshoring of emissions, as the country works towards its net carbon zero goals, at the same time as generating many hundreds of skilled and well-paid new jobs for Cumbria, together with significant tax revenues and overseas earnings for UK plc.
“We look forward to CCC reconfirming approval of our planning application once more which will provide a clear path for my team to deliver the project.”
WCM first submitted its planning application and environmental impact assessment to Cumbria County Council in May 2017.
The first unanimous committee decision was 19 March 2019, the second on 31 October 2019 and the third majority decision was on 2 October 2020.
* Secretary of State at the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government, Robert Jenrick MP