A FURNESS environmental group is urging the county council to ditch plans for a new coal mine at Whitehaven, following a ministerial decision to reject another controversial mining project in the North East.

Next month, the council is due to make a key decision on the Woodhouse Colliery scheme, having considered the amended application during the summer months.

This week, Communities Secretary Robert Jenrick rejected plans to dig up millions of tonnes of coal at a prospective opencast mining site near Druridge Bay in Northumberland on the grounds it was environmentally unacceptable.

The Extinction Rebellion (XR) Furness branch, buoyed by the decision, is now calling on the county council to follow the Secretary of State's line.

Commenting after the Druridge Bay decision, a spokesperson for the XR Furness group said: "This is a great decision, equally applicable here in Cumbria.

"The plans for the Cumbria mine have been shown to be flawed as European steel producers switch from coke to hydrogen.

"It's time to move on and create much-needed Cumbrian jobs in the growing green economy rather than the unsustainable and polluting industry of yesteryear."