Madeline Cuff – Business Green        Banks Mining has won a last minute reprieve for its plans to build an open cast coal mine near Druridge Bay, after the High Court today ruled the decision over whether to approve the project should be sent back to Housing and Communities Secretary James Brokenshire. In a landmark decision, the former Secretary of State for the department Sajid Javid rejected the plans earlier this year citing concerns over its impact on the UK’s ability to meet its climate targets. But on appeal the court ruled the minister did not provide adequate evidence to substantiate his decision.

“The Secretary of State does not indicate… what evidence he had for any conclusion he reached, or by what reasoning he arrived at it,” the ruling noted.  The application will now go back to the government for Brokenshire to assess. If it goes ahead, the Highthorn mine is expected to deliver three million tonnes of coal and a total of 20,000 tonnes of fireclay and sandstone over a five-year period. “The Highthorn scheme has been examined in extreme detail by both a local authority with substantial experience of the extractive industries and an independent planning inspector, and was found to be a sound scheme that should be allowed to go ahead,” said Gavin Styles, managing director at Banks Mining. “We would therefore urge Mr Brokenshire to give us permission to progress work at Highthorn as soon as possible, and thereby enable us to extend a track record of investing and creating jobs in Northumberland that stretches back four decades.”

Campaigners insist the project would cause serious harm, both to the local environmental and to the UK’s emissions profile. Friends of the Earth, which has campaigned vigorously against the development, said in a tweet it was “hugely disappointed” by the decision. It is uncertain where Brokenshire stands on the potential development. Brokenshire voted for the Climate Change Act back in 2008, but has had little involvement with climate issues during his tenure in government.

Banks Mining has argued in the past that the project would not undermine the UK’s carbon targets as the coal it produced would be used during the transition to cleaner energy sources and would lead to lower emissions than coal imported from overseas.

Announcing its appeal against the original decision earlier this year, the company said: “we fully recognise and accept that there needs to be a stable transition to a low carbon economy, and are already working successfully within the framework which is driving the phased reduction of coal from the electricity generating system, but there will remain a clear and recognised need for coal during this phase out period.”