Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:

To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, what assessment he has made of the environmental effect of opening a new coal mine at the Woodhouse Colliery near Whitehaven; and what comparative assessment he has made of the environmental impacts of that mine and continuing to import coking coal for UK steel production.

In the decision of 6 January, the Secretary of State decided not to call in the planning application for the proposed West Cumbria Coal mine. In that decision, the Secretary of State carefully considered this case against his published policy on calling in planning applications, as set out in the Written Ministerial Statement of 26 October 2012. Further representations to MHCLG when received are carefully considered.