Dismay over Highthorn public inquiry decision delay

Banks Mining disappointed at further delay to decision on new North East surface coal mine
                                                                                                           
THE Government has delayed a decision on whether a new Northumberland surface coal mine can go ahead.

Banks Mining gained unanimous approval for their Highthorn planning application from Northumberland County Council’s planning committee in July 2016, but the Department for Communities and Local Government (DCLG) subsequently called in the decision for review.

Secretary of State Sajid Javid had been expected to make a decision by the beginning of this month, but the DCLG has indicated that it will not now be forthcoming at this time and no indication of the timeframe for the announcement of any decision has been provided.

Jeannie Kielty, community relations manager at The Banks Group, said: ‘We remain keen to progress our investment and job-creation plans at Highthorn as soon as possible, and are, therefore, extremely disappointed at this further delay in being able to do so.

‘Our Highthorn planning application has been specifically designed to bring a wide range of employment, supply chain, environmental, community, tourism, and economic benefits to the local area and wider region over the short, medium and long term.’

According to The Banks Group, the Highthorn scheme would create at least 100 full-time jobs at the site, invest £87 million into the Northumberland economy, keep a total of £120 million within the UK economy by not requiring the importation of 3 million tonnes of coal that would otherwise come from overseas suppliers, and make supply chain contracts worth a total of £48 million available to locally based businesses.

Ms Kielty continued: ‘All businesses need clear guidelines and solid foundations on which to plan and execute the operations that will deliver such benefits, but having waited a little under two years since our plans were first unanimously approved, we now have no indication as to when the Secretary of State is going to decide whether we are to be allowed to proceed – and all the while, we are continuing to receive enquiries from energy generation and industrial customers about when the site is going to be opening.

‘The simple fact remains that the UK still needs coal for a number of purposes, a situation that has been plainly demonstrated during the recent spell of cold weather, through which coal has been used to meet more than a quarter of the country’s energy generation requirements and doubts have arisen about whether the UK actually has access to sufficient gas supplies to meet consumer demand.

‘The Government’s own projections state that coal will continue to be an important part of the UK’s energy mix for at least the proposed duration of operations at Highthorn, and the importance of its inclusion as an essential and resilient part of a balanced mix of energy generation sources in the UK over the medium term is clear.

‘We hope the Secretary of State will feel able to make a decision on Highthorn in the near future, and that the compelling case we made at the public inquiry for the original unanimous planning decision to be ratified will be accepted.’