Friends Of The Earth React To Controversial Druridge Bay Opencast Coal Mine

It has been revealed today that Sajid Javid, the Communities Secretary has ‘called in’ a planning application deemed controversial for a large opencast coal mine on climate change grounds at Druridge Bay on climate change grounds.

Calling in a decision means that the Secretary of State makes the final judgement. The grounds given for calling in the Druridge Bay application include whether the proposal is consistent with addressing climate change.

Friends of the Earth campaigner Guy Shrubsole said:

“Hopefully this means that Ministers have realised that digging up yet more coal is completely contradictory with the Paris climate deal, and that planning rules must be changed to leave fossil fuels in the ground.

“Thousands of people objected to the ill-conceived opencast coal mine at Druridge Bay because it would be hugely damaging for the local area, threaten tourism and undermine efforts to tackle climate change.

“The government must look at the evidence, back local people and reject this short-sighted proposal. It’s time to stop extracting and burning coal.”