Plans for a west Cumbria coal mine have been approved

An application for a coal mine in west Cumbria has been approved by Cumbria County Council.

The decision was made during a meeting with Development Control and Regulation Committee in Kendal.

West Cumbria Mining will extract coal in a new underground mine located on a brownfield site - south west of Whitehaven.

Once Woodhouse Colliery starts operating, around 2.5 million tonnes of metallurgical coal, which is a low per year is expected to be extracted to supply into the UK and European steel-making coal plants which currently import 45 million tonnes per year from USA, Canada, Russia and Australia.

As part of the planning application Trudy Harrison, MP Copeland who supported the proposals says Colliery is not just an industrial renaissance but it represents a new chapter in history.

Construction begins in six months, and will take two years to complete.