Whitehaven Coal Mine - Can You Believe This From My MP? Breathtaking Complacency

 This just leaves me spitting mad!! Her complacency is utterly breathtaking.

Dear Richard,

 

Thank you for contacting me about the Whitehaven coal mine.

 

Planning decisions are made at the local level, a fundamental and important element of local democracy at the heart of our planning system. Local councillors are elected to represent their communities and it is important that local autonomy is respected as much as possible. The Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government has the power to ‘call-in’ planning applications rather than letting the local authority decide, though this will typically only be done in situations where the application conflicts with national policy in significant ways.

 

I am aware of reports that the Council is having the planning application reconsidered by its Development Control and Regulation Committee.

 

As this is a decision for the Council, you may be interested to read the Executive Director for Economy and Infrastructure's conclusion on the planning application: "I am convinced that there are considerable benefits resulting from the development, not least the potential number of highly skilled jobs on offer and benefit to the UK economy. The project also contributes to the supply of coking coal for the UK steel industry, which is a critical raw material.

 

"Overall, the development and its wider impacts when considered as a whole would currently reduce global [greenhouse gas] emissions as a result of savings made from reduced transportation distances of coal to the steelworks and other emissions being neutral. This would be expected to remain the case until more environmentally friendly methods of steel manufacture and transportation are developed to be commercially viable."

 

It is worth mentioning that the extracted coal would be used exclusively for steel production rather than energy production. The Government has confirmed its commitment to end unabated coal-power generation from 2025 and is consulting on bringing this date forward to 2024. This would ensure that the deadline for the phase-out of coal from Britain’s energy system is 1 October 2024. I hope that coal-generated energy will soon be a distant memory as the UK builds a greener and more resilient in the aftermath of the Covid-19 pandemic.

 

Thank you again for taking the time to contact me.

 

Best wishes,

 

 

Angela Richardson MP Member of Parliament for Guildford House of Commons, London, SW1A 0AA Tel: 020 7219 5851   Find me on:    To subscribe to my newsletter, please click here.