Plans to build the UK’s first deep coal mine in more than 30 years have been quashed.
At the High Court, judge Justice Holgate said previous permission for the development at Whitehaven in Cumbria was “legally flawed”.
The proposal by West Cumbria Mining (WCM) had received the go-ahead from the previous Conservative government in December 2022.
Outside the High Court, Victoria Marson, from Friends of the Earth who lodged the legal challenge, said campaigners had “won on all issues – a massive victory”.
Legal challenges were submitted by Friends of the Earth and South Lakes Action on Climate Change (SLACC), who claimed the decision was flawed.
The environmental campaigners claimed permission did not take into consideration the impact of burning coal on the environment – only from running the mine.
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