Plans for a coal mine in Cumbria have turned into a global political row. The plan for the first deep mine in the UK for decades in Whitehaven was approved by Cumbria County Council in October 2020.

However, after an outcry from environmental campaigners including Greenpeace and Greta Thunberg, the council suspended its decision.

Now the government, which had previously decided not to intervene in the project has done just that and said a public inquiry must be held.

To complicate matters further, the company behind the mine, West Cumbria Mining (WCM), announced it was taking legal action against the council claiming its U-turn could not be “justified”.

Conservative MP for Workington Mark Jenkinson said he believes a lot of people oppose the idea because they do not understand the mine would produce coal for steel-making, not for power stations.

A new coalmine in Cumbria has been given the green light by the government in the same week that the Treasury launched a review into how the UK can end its contribution to global heating.

The developer, West Cumbria Mining, said the £165m mine would create 500 jobs.

The Cumbrian MP Tim Farron called the decision “a kick in the teeth in the fight to tackle climate change”.

Farron had asked the government to “call in” the decision after it received unanimous planning approval by Cumbria county council in March.

But his application has been rejected, with the local Conservative MP Trudy Harrison saying “sense has prevailed”.

Farron, the Liberal Democrat MP for Westmorland and Lonsdale, expressed his dismay, saying the government should “invest fully in zero-carbon energy” instead.

He said: “Cumbria has so many renewable resources to provide energy – water, wind and solar – and we should most definitely not be taking the backwards step of opening a new coalmine.”

The news came as the government announced its net zero review, which will assess “how we can cut our emissions without seeing them exported elsewhere”.

The mine, called Woodhouse Colliery, will be situated on the former Marchon industrial site near Whitehaven. It will extract coking coal from under the sea nearby, with access via the existing Sandwith Anhydrite mine portals, according to West Cumbria Mining.