Another nail in the coffin for West Cumbria Mining Ltd

The proposed West Cumbria Coal mine lost its planning permission in September 2024. Since then, its application to get a full coal mining license was refused by the Coal Authority, another nail in the coffin of the proposed coking coal mine.

The Coal Authority use a narrow (and outdated) check list to approve full coal mining licenses.

1. The people responsible have sufficient experience and expertise to do the work appropriately
2. The extent of subsidence damage and character of affected land is acceptable
3. The ability of the applicant to finance coal mining operations and the discharge of liabilities arising from the operation.

The Recommendation report from the Coal Authority for this application rejects the application for a full mining license for failing to satisfy both condition 2 and 3, of the above list.

The Coal Authority was unable to verify West Cumbria Mining Ltd's claims of low subsidence risk as West Cumbria Mining Ltd refused to give its modelling parameters to the Coal Authority, citing confidentiality.

Concurrently, the Coal Authority was not satisfied that West Cumbria Mining Ltd is able to finance the project and discharge liabilities especially now that the planning permission has been overturned.

Additionally, the deadline has passed for West Cumbria Mining Ltd to appeal the decision made by the Judge, Mr Justice Holgate, overturning the planning permission granted by the Conservative Government in December 2022. Friends of the Earth’s legal team has had confirmation that no appeal was received before the deadline, meaning an appeal won’t go ahead.

Next steps are still awaited from Angela Raynor, Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, on how the government will proceed, but the chances of this mine ever happening are increasing very slim.