Why is coal mining back in the news in Britain after all these years?

What’s this I hear about Britain getting a new coal mine?

You heard right – the British government this week approved a new coal mine in Whitehaven, Cumbria, which is in the northwest of England and is to be known as Woodhouse Colliery. Michael Gove, UK secretary of state for “levelling up”, granted planning permission on Wednesday for the UK’s first new coal mine in 30 years. Gove said the site would provide coking coal for steel production in the UK and Europe.

But I thought coal mining was a thing of the past, given its impact on the environment?

Coal mining in Britain has been in heavy decline for decades. Mineworkers, under union leader Arthur Scargill, went on strike in the mid-1980s when Margaret Thatcher was prime minister in an attempt to prevent the colliery closures she wanted. Figures from Statista show the number of people employed in mining in Britain fell from one million people in 1920 to just 2,000 in 2015. A handful of mines are still in operation in south Wales, Northumberland, Durham and Scotland.

So why is this new coal mine in Cumbria opening now?

The project was initially approved by Cumbria County Council in October 2020. West Cumbria Mining, the firm behind the project, promised to create 500 direct jobs and 1,500 in the wider community. More than 40 Conservative MPs backed the project.

In February 2021, progress on the project was suspended after the UK’s independent Climate Change Committee (CCC) warned the government that steelmaking shouldn’t use coal after 2035 if the UK wanted to meet its climate targets. The council had granted permission to dig until 2049.

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However, the Planning Inspectorate reviewed the original decision and sent a report to Gove, who then approved the project. In advance of the Brexit referendum, Gove famously said “people in this country have had enough of experts”.

Do we know what the impact of the coal mine will be on the environment?

Analysis by think tank Green Alliance has found the mine could release as much climate-heating pollution as putting 200,000 extra cars on British roads.

Meanwhile, Gove said the mine would have a “broadly neutral effect” on climate change because some emissions from steelmaking are inevitable, and the coal may as well come from “a mine that seeks to be net zero”.

What has the reaction been?

Conservative peer John Gummer, who chairs the CCC, said its members “condemn” the decision, which “runs counter to the UK’s stated aims as Cop26 president and sends entirely the wrong signal to other countries about the UK’s climate priorities”.

The UK’s “hard-fought global influence on climate is diminished by today’s decision,” Gummer said. Only about 15 per cent of the coal would be used in Britain, he said.

Environmental campaigning group Friends of the Earth described it as “an appalling decision”.

[ King Coal’s return to Britain ]

“Approving this mine is a misguided and deeply damaging mistake that flies in the face of all the evidence,” campaigner Tony Bosworth said.

“The mine isn’t needed, will add to global climate emissions, and won’t replace Russian coal.”

What have supporters of the coal mine been saying?

Mike Starkie, the Conservative mayor of Copeland where the mine will be located, said he was “absolutely thrilled” about the decision, adding that he had been inundated with messages from people across the community. Local people were “in celebration”, he said.

Starkie said it would lead to “huge economic investment in the area” and that the developer had made a commitment to try to ensure up to 80 per cent local labour.

He said West Cumbria Mining had been “completely transparent about everything they’ve done”, their community engagement had been “exemplary” and “hence they’ve got huge backing from the local community”.