Ministers pull out of three-day hearing where they were due to defend planning approval of controversial project, as speculation mounts over plan to halt new oil and gas licenses
The government has confirmed it will not defend the previous Conservative administration's decision to give planning permission to a coal mine in Cumbria at a court hearing next week, in a move that paves the way for the controversial project to be shelved.
Ministers were scheduled to defend two challenges against the government's approval of the Woodhouse Colliery project at the High Court, in the latest twist in a long-running saga over the future of the mine.
Friends of the Earth and South Lakes Action on Climate Change (SLACC) are set to claim former Housing, Communities and Local Government Secretary Michael Gove failed to consider the project's full climate impacts when he approved the project in December 2022, arguing the planning application did not account for emissions from the burning of coal extracted at the site.
Ahead of the election Labour had pledged not to grant licenses to any new coal projects and it has now confirmed it will not be mounting a legal defence against the two challenges. It has also informed the court the decision to grant planning permission for the mine should be quashed, according to an update from Friends of the Earth.
The decision comes shortly after a landmark judgement from the Supreme Court last month over a drilling project in Surrey, which ruled that emissions from burning fossil fuels should be considered in planning applications for new extraction projects.
Advocates for the coal mine have claimed it is needed to provide fuel for the UK steel industry and bring jobs to a region with high unemployment. But critics have long argued the mine will hurt the UK's progress towards meeting its climate goals and could quickly become a stranded asset as the steel industry moves away from its reliance on coking coal and embraces cleaner technologies.
In the months since the mine was approved, Tata Steel - the owner of one of the UK's two coal-burning steelmaking sites - has confirmed it is closing the blast furnaces at its plant in Wales and transitioning production to electric arc furnaces, meaning it will no longer be dependent on the fossil fuel as a feedstock.
BusinessGreen understands Housing, Communities and Local Government Secretary Angela Rayner has accepted there was "error in law" in the decision to grant planning permission for the coal mine, following the Supreme Court's ruling in favour of Surrey County Council last month.
If the Court agrees with the government that permission should be quashed, the government would be tasked with making a fresh decision on whether the project should get the go-ahead. It is expected to reject the planning approval for the mine, in line with Labour's manifesto promise not to grant any new coal licenses.
BusinessGreen reached out to mine developer West Cumbria Mining to ask whether it intended to press ahead with its defence to the challenges, which is set to go ahead next week unless it also concedes the case.
The organisations behind the legal challenge welcomed the government's decision to walk away from its planned defence.
"We're delighted the government agrees that planning permission for this destructive, polluting and unnecessary coal mine was unlawfully granted and that it should be quashed," said Friends of the Earth climate co-ordinator Jamie Peters. "We hope the court agrees, and that the mine is then rejected when the Secretary of State reconsiders the application."
Maggie Mason of the SLACC said West Cumbrians deserved jobs that didn't "cost the earth".
"We argued throughout the Inquiry and this legal claim that the emissions from using the coal were not properly assessed and it is great to see this acknowledged," she said. "Our small charity has opposed the mine because of its harmful impacts on the local and global climate, and the appalling precedent created by West Cumbria Mining's claim that a new coal mine doesn't increase the global use of coal."
In response to a request for more information about the government's decision, the Department for Housing, Levelling Up and Local Communities (DHLUC) said it would not comment on ongoing lititgation.
The news came as the Department for Energy Security and Net Zero (DESNZ) categorically denied reports the new government had already imposed a full moratorium on all new oil and gas drilling projects in the North Sea.
Yesterday The Telegraph reported that Energy Security and Net Zero Secretary Ed Miliband had already ordered the North Sea Transition Authority (NSTA) to stop issuing new licences for oil and gas projects, including for those that were in the final round of approval with the regulator. The paper said Miliband had overruled his officials in doing so.
But in a statement, DESNZ said that while the new government was committed to delivering on its manifesto promise to halt new licenses it had not formally finalised the plan as yet.
"This piece is a complete fabrication - it invents meetings and decisions that have not taken place," a spokesperson said of the Telegraph report. "As previously stated, we will not issue new licences to explore new fields. We will also not revoke existing oil and gas licences and will manage existing fields for the entirety of their lifespan. We are working with the North Sea Transition Authority to ensure a fair and balanced transition in the North Sea."
Want to understand what is going on at the cutting edge of sustainability? Check out BusinessGreen Intelligence - the premier information for professionals focused on the UK's green economy.
