Environmental groups have called for proposals for the UK's first coal mine for 30 years to be "permanently shelved" after the High Court quashed the decision to grant planning permission for the site.A judge ruled on Friday that the Government's decision to give the go-ahead for the development in Whitehaven, Cumbria, was "legally flawed", following a challenge by Friends of the Earth (FoE) and South Lakes Action on Climate Change (SLACC) against the site's developers, West Cumbria Mining (WCM)

Environmental groups have called for proposals for the UK's first coal mine for 30 years to be "permanently shelved" after the High Court quashed the decision to grant planning permission for the site.A judge ruled on Friday that the Government's decision to give the go-ahead for the development in Whitehaven, Cumbria, was "legally flawed", following a challenge by Friends of the Earth (FoE) and South Lakes Action on Climate Change (SLACC) against the site's developers, West Cumbria Mining (WCM).FoE claimed that the ruling marks the first case linked to fossil fuels to be decided since a Supreme Court ruling earlier this year, which said that emissions created by burning the materials should be considered when granting planning permission to new extraction sites.