UK coal mine plan pits local needs against global green ambitions

The UK’s first new deep coal mine for more than 30 years has opened up old divides. People in Whitehaven, the depressed town where it could be built, are excited. Global climate activists, including Greta Thunberg and Sir David Attenborough, together with a significant portion of the British public are appalled.

The agonised debate is a familiar one for governments cutting carbon emissions: is it fair for a single community to sacrifice prosperity for the good of all?

Cumbria county council, the local authority, approved the mine in October, and the UK government confirmed the decision in January. But on February 9 the council said it would re-examine the decision. This followed a wave of protests from green groups and a letter to the government from its advisory body, the Climate Change Committee (CCC), warning that the mine would leave a “negative impression” of the UK when it chaired the COP26 UN climate talks in November and make it harder to hit carbon reduction targets. 

Mike Starkie, the Conservative mayor of the town, which is on the Cumbrian coast in north-west England, says the 500 promised well paid jobs, with at least as many in the supply chain, are vital to a remote town that has not recovered from pit closures in the 1980s. “It will transform lives and the local economy,” Starkie said. “Ninety per cent of people support it. I get more complaints about new housing.”

But a third of the wider British public favour banning coal mines altogether, according to a poll by YouGov commissioned by Greenpeace.

The proposed £160m Woodhouse Colliery is next to the Haig pit that shut in 1984. Its old winding gear still towers over the public housing estate of Kells. Starkie says half the children there live in poverty and argues that they should not miss out on jobs when China and other countries continue to burn coal.

Conservative MPs across the north have also backed the mine to shore up support in formerly Labour-held “red wall” seats. With Labour opposing the plans nationally, the Tories see an opportunity to cement their claim to be the true allies of the working class, after sweeping up Brexit voters in industrial areas in the 2019 election.

If approved Woodhouse would produce 2.7m tonnes annually of coking coal, for use in the steel industry in the UK and European mainland, which currently imports its supplies from Australia, the US and Russia. Its backers say using coal from Woodhouse would reduce emissions from transport.

Many in Whitehaven believe opponents have not done their research. “You need coking coal to make high carbon steel. You need the steel for wind turbines,” said Mark Tomlinson, 58, out for a walk along the harbourside. Diane, his wife, 57, said: “A majority of people in this area are in favour of the mine.” 

“I hope it goes ahead,” said Lynn Johnston, walking her dogs near the beach with her daughter Kirby. “Young people need the jobs.”

Some older ones are keen too. Neil Messenger left the town when Haig shut in 1984. He was one of 180,000 coal miners to lose their jobs within 15 years as the Conservative government shut most pits and sold off the rest. The last deep mine, Kellingley, in North Yorkshire, closed in 2015.

Now 57, Messenger has put his name down for a position at Woodhouse. “I went down the mine at 14 on a school visit and never wanted to do anything else. The camaraderie is like nowhere else.”

The Whitehaven economy relies heavily on the nuclear waste site at Sellafield and well-paid jobs outside the energy industry are hard to come by.

The handsome Georgian port has many crumbling buildings and empty shops, a decline hastened by the coronavirus pandemic.

“If the mine comes it will be fantastic for Whitehaven,” said Andrew McDowell, a newsagent.

West Cumbria Mining, the developer, said the CCC report and its carbon budget “are not factors which would have led the [planning] committee to reach a different decision” and remains confident of approval again.

But Jill Perry, a Green party member who lives near Whitehaven, said activists would use the report to ask for a judicial review. “The council is worried about a legal challenge,” she said.

She also pointed to the recent revelation from British Steel, a potential customer, that it could not use the coke because it had too much sulphur in it.

And as the CCC contest, the mine could be redundant as steelmakers invest in hydrogen power, which could be commercially viable in around a decade.

She said local people needed “sustainable” jobs such as insulating houses or steel recycling. The Local Government Association has estimated that Copeland district, which includes Whitehaven, could create 860 green jobs by 2050 in areas such as energy efficiency and renewable generation.

Even if Cumbria county council approves the mine again, the government will have a chance to have the final say. Robert Jenrick, the communities secretary, previously said it was a local matter, to the consternation of colleagues including Alok Sharma, the cabinet minister who will host COP26 in November.

With awkward timing, last week he appeared at the Powering Past Coal Alliance summit chaired by the UK and Canada challenging countries to phase out the fuel in energy generation.

Kwasi Kwarteng, who replaced Sharma as business secretary, has admitted that there is “tension” within the government over the plans. 

That is not only because of the UK’s 2050 net zero carbon target but its promise to phase out coal-fired power generation by 2024: “There is a slight tension between the decision to open the mine and our avowed intention to take coal off the grid,” Kwarteng told a select committee hearing in parliament last month.

Supporters of the project also point out that blocking the mine while importing coke and steel is hypocritical. As one backer in the government said: “We are always going to need steel. If we don’t make our own then we’ll need to import it, with all the carbon costs that come with that.”