THE West Cumbria Mining Company will face public scrutiny over plans for its new mine after a four-year fight by a Cumbrian Charity.

After unprecedented national and global concern, a four-week inquiry will begin on September 7 and will see the mining giant face public scrutiny of its plans for a new coal mine in Cumbria.

South Lakeland Against Climate Change (SLACC) will lead on a challenge to claims made by the globally connected West Cumbria Mining Company (WCM).

A national, and international, network of academics has supported SLACC’s struggle for a major and public investigation into the WCM’s proposal after the 6th UK Carbon Budget was published in December 2020.

John Ashton, CBE, independent speaker, writer and former UK climate envoy has praised the Kendal based charity, SLACC, for “doing an amazing job in holding WCM to account and forcing a reluctant government to hold a public inquiry”.

SLACC chair of trustees Carole Wood says: “The public inquiry is the next stage of a long battle to highlight the damage to the climate and environment from this proposal.

"As a small charity we are very grateful for the global support we have received, the contributions of specialist experts, and the backing of many people who have contributed to our crowd funding”.

Maggie Mason, leading the work for SLACC says: “Our expert witnesses show that the coal from this mine is not the type that the UK and EU steel industry needs, so it would not replace current imports. And, in any case, the European Steel industry is moving away from using coal because it has to meet stringent new targets to tackle climate change.”

For further information and regular updates about SLACC’s Cumbria Coal Mine Campaign visit their webpage.