THE Government has ‘called-in’ the decision on whether to allow a coal mine to be built on the west coast of Cumbria, writes Cllr Giles Archibald, leader of South Lakeland District Council.

There will now be a public inquiry run by the UK Planning Inspectorate followed by an independent decision as to whether to allow it to proceed.

Stephen Legs said: "The green economy jobs aren't always as green as might be imagined. Al Jazerah is showing a programme tonight at 11.30 pm, People and Power showing the environmental and human costs of mining cobalt in the DRC; cobalt used for batteries in electric vehicles. The programme will be repeated and may possibly be found on their website or on their Freeview site."

Norman Simmons said: "Boris was saying hundreds of thousands of green jobs will now last. Divided up that's probably our share. I don't think this is something to put our hopes on."

Graham Burns said: "We need steel and locally mined coal to assist in the manufacturing process is better for the environment than importing it from anywhere else. As a side-line if we want a green transport agenda, electric bikes are becoming very popular. How many publicly accessible charging points are there in the district?"

Nathan Quest said: "The UK needs to import the bulk of its coking coal for steel from as far away as the USA, Australia and Russia. We'll still need to import coking coal for years to come; the alternative method of making steel, the direct reduction method using Hydrogen, is only currently in its very early stages. The HYBRIT project was launched as a joint venture between the utility Vattenfall, iron ore producer LKAB and steel maker SSAB. They hope to develop the experimental project to make steel industry to be entirely fossil- and carbon dioxide- free in 20 years."

Colin Towns said: "How has this situation been going on for this long? It is a silly project and so many people have voiced concerns with it but they still are going on with it?"