Opinion is firmly divided after it was announced the controversial plan to build a coal mine in Cumbria is to be reviewed.
The news that Cumbria County Council is set to reconsider planning permission for a new coal mine in Whitehaven was met with "dismay" but some local councillors - but welcomed by politicians such as shadow business secretary Ed Miliband and the Green Party's Caroline Lucas and climate campaigners.
Mike Starkie, Conservative mayor for Copeland, and Trudy Harrison, Copeland's Conservative Member of Parliament, said on Tuesday that they are "dismayed" by the decision, according to the Local Democracy Reporting Service.
The county council explained on Tuesday that the decision had been taken following the "consideration of new information" in relation to the 海角视频 Government Climate Change Committee's latest climate recommendations, made in December 2020 following the granting of planning permission for the mine by the county council's development control and regulation committee.
In a joint statement released following the news, Mr Starkie and Mrs Harrison, both long-term proponents of the mine, said that they "implore" the county council to stand by the decision made late last year to grant the mine planning permission.
"We are dismayed by Cumbria County Council's decision to reconsider the West Cumbria Mining application for Whitehaven," their joint statement read.
"The decision has been made time and again, based on the forensic details the planning committee had in front of them, and the decision has repeatedly been to approve this important development.
"The Government has now twice declined to call-in the decision, stating rightly that this is a decision best made locally.
Most Read
"We have championed - and lobbied - for this development and will continue to do so more strongly than ever."
Reaction to the news that Cumbria County Council will reconsider the application has been positive from climate campaigners both locally and nationally, and comes after weeks of criticism levelled at the Government for deciding not to intervene in the mine's construction.
Ed Miliband MP, Labour's Shadow Business Secretary has been one of a number of recent high profile critics of the proposed west Cumbrian mine.
Mr Miliband said today that the Labour Party nationally welcomed the county council's decision to reconsider the application for the mine.
"The Government now has a second chance to do the right thing and call it in," he said.
"The 海角视频 cannot claim to be a climate leader whilst opening a new coal mine and ministers must realise that by doing so they undermine our credibility both at home and abroad.
"A new mine is neither the answer for climate change nor the answer for our steel industry."
Don’t miss
But Mr Starkie and Mrs Harrison argued that the proposed west Cumbrian mine, Woodhouse Colliery, would "reduce the carbon footprint significantly" of the 海角视频's steel output.
"In terms of green energy, all green technology needs steel, and the metallurgical coal to be extracted by West Cumbria Mining is coking coal that will be used for steel," their statement read.
Don't miss a thing - sign up for your free North West newsletter - and follow us on LinkedIn
Email newsletters
BusinessLive is your home for business news from around the North West- and you can stay in touch with all the latest news from Greater Manchester, Liverpool City Region, Cheshire, Lancashire and Cumbria through our email alerts.
You can sign up to receive daily morning news bulletins from every region we cover and to weekly email bulletins covering key economic sectors from manufacturing to technology and enterprise. And we'll send out breaking news alerts for any stories we think you can't miss.
Visit our email preference centre to sign up to all the latest news from BusinessLive.
For all the latest stories, views, polls and more - and the news as it breaks - .
"It will reduce the carbon footprint significantly to be mined here, in a modern and environmentally-efficient mine, than being mined elsewhere and shipped here from the USA, Australia, Russia and around the world.
"The project fully accords with the 海角视频's green industrial commitments and includes legal conditions that production will not go beyond 2049 and the highest levels of greenhouse gas emission mitigation.
"It is also incredibly significant that the project will bring £160 million of private investment and 500 jobs into our community to help drive our post-Covid economy.
"We need this development, and we once again implore Cumbria County Council to stand by their decision."
A spokesperson for Cumbria County Council explained today that plans for the mine will be reviewed, "after the and consideration of new information".
"Cumbria County Council's Development Control and Regulation (DC&R) Committee will now reconsider the planning application by West Cumbria Mining to create a metallurgical coal mine off the coast near Whitehaven.
"This decision has been taken because in December 2020, the Government's Climate Change Committee released its report on its recommendations for the Sixth Carbon Budget, a requirement under the Climate Change Act.
"The report, among other things, sets out the volume of greenhouse gases the 海角视频 aims to emit during 2033-2037. This new information has been received prior to the issue of the formal decision notice on the application.
"In light of this the Council has decided that the planning application should be reconsidered by DC&R."
Green Party MP Caroline Lucas tweeted that it was "very good news (that) local council is reconsidering its approval" of the new coal mine.
"Surprised that Government didn't recognise there's no place for new coal in a #ClimateEmergency - hopefully councillors will," she added.
Cumbrian MP and former Liberal Democrat leader Tim Farron also called on the Government to stop the controversial plans, saying: "The Government now needs to step in, show some climate leadership and stop this mine once and for all.
"In the year that we are hosting Cop26, it is unconscionable that we are even considering opening a brand new coal mine."