The Government will no longer defend legal challenges of the planning permission it granted for a new coal mine in Cumbria.

The two challenges, launched by Friends of the Earth and South Lakes Action on Climate Change, are still expected to take place in the High Court next week unless the developer, West Cumbria Mining, also concedes the case.

The Government pulled out after a landmark Supreme Court ruling last month, which concluded that Surrey County Council had acted unlawfully when it gave permission for oil drilling at Horse Hill, near Gatwick, without considering the emissions that would be produced when the oil was burned.

Friends of the Earth said: ‘It is now clear that the combustion emissions from the inevitable burning of the Cumbrian coal should have been assessed in the developer’s climate assessment.’

Angela Rayner, the new secretary of state for Housing, Communities and Local Government, admitted there had been an ‘error in law’ when permission for the Whitehaven coal mine in West Cumbria was granted by her predecessor, Michael Gove, in December 2022.

Friends of the Earth climate co-ordinator Jamie Peters said:?’We’re delighted the government agrees that planning permission for this destructive, polluting and unnecessary coal mine was unlawfully granted and that it should be quashed.’

If the permission is quashed, the planning application will go back to Ms Rayner to make a fresh decision.

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