CUMBRIAN councillors look set to “ratify” their original decision to grant permission for a £165m mine following a legal challenge.

West Cumbria Mining wants to extract coking coal off the coast of St Bees, with a processing plant on the former Marchon site at Kells given the go-ahead in March.

However, the authority’s planning panel has been asked to look again at the controversial plans “as a matter of prudence”, with a fresh ruling expected when they meet on Thursday.

The move comes after solicitors, acting on behalf of environmental campaigners ‘Keep Cumbrian Coal in the Hole (KCCH), sent a legal letter to the county council earlier this year.

Leigh Day Solicitors have argued that changes in circumstances means the committee should reconsider its ruling.

The legal team has also alleged “flaws” in the report upon which councillors based their original decision, claims denied by the country.

And members are expected to vote the same way after planning bosses said that nothing had emerged that put the original decision at risk or would have changed the outcome.

Among Leigh Day’s arguments is that the collapse of British Steel in May had reduced the need for coking coal in the UK.

However, planning chiefs stressed that the council’s position had not been based on the fortunes of British Steel, which now has a buyer, but on the industry “as a whole”.

Officers have accepted national changes to the carbon emission rules introduced after the planning decision makes hitting targets “more challenging”, but not enough to affect the original decision.

Responding to claims that the council has failed to consider greenhouse gasses from any mining operations, planning chiefs have said that the emissions from the site would be “broadly carbon neutral”.

It has also been argued that a mine in West Cumbria would cut the need to import coking coal from further afield, actually leading to a reduced carbon footprint.

The coking coal is also required for the manufacture of steel which is used to make wind turbines for the renewable energy market.

“There is nothing that would warrant a different recommendation or that would put the council’s original decision at significant risk,” the report concludes.

Westmorland and Lonsdale MP Tim Farron “called in” the original county council planning panel decision amid calls to scrap the project.

Because of this, any decision on the mine can only be released when and if the Secretary of State withdraws the direction preventing the council from granting planning permission.

Marianne Birkby, who is leading the KCCH campaign, has raised concerns about what she regards as the safety risk of having a mine so close to Sellafield.

The scheme is expected to create around 500 much-needed jobs in one of the most deprived wards in England.

Since the original plans were agreed, the authority has added an obligation which would secure a financial contribution from West Cumbria Mining.

All the other Cumbrian MPs apart from Tim Farron, who opposes the mine, and Workington’s Sue Hayman, who is yet to commit to a position, have formally expressed their support.

Copeland’s elected mayor Mike Starkie is a staunch supporter while Labour’s prospective parliamentary candidate for Copeland, Tony Lywood, has also given it his backing.