A CONTROVERSIAL opencast plan in a North-East beauty spot may go ahead after a High Court ruling in favour of the company behind the scheme.

A judge has quashed Sajid Javid’s decision to block Banks Mining’s planning application to create a surface mine at Druridge Bay in Northumberland.

The decision by Mr Justice Ouseley means that the application from the County Durham firm now returns to current Secretary of State James Brokenshaw’s office for further consideration.

Meanwhile, the reasons behind Mr Brokenshaw’s refusal to intervene in the work already underway by Banks Mining at the Bradley site, at Dipton, near Consett, is going to judicial review at the High Court in Leeds in January.

The scheme at Druridge Bay involves removing three million tonnes of coal, sandstone and fireclay extracted from the 325-hectare site over seven years, and was recommended for approval by both Northumberland County Council and the Government-appointed Planning Inspectorate.

In March, Sajid Javid, communities secretary at the time, said the project would have “a considerable adverse impact on the landscape character” of the area but challenge was lodged on the grounds that there were serious errors in the legal basis on which the decision was made.

The judge found the current Home Secretary’s reasoning behind ‘significantly inadequate.’

Gavin Styles, managing director at Banks Mining, says: “We felt that we had a strong case for quashing this decision and are very pleased that all aspects of our challenge have been validated by the High Court.

“The Highthorn scheme has been examined in extreme detail by both a local authority with substantial experience of the extractive industries and an independent planning inspector, and was found to be a sound scheme that should be allowed to go ahead.”

The firm will next month appear at Peterlee Magistrates’ Court as part of a private prosecution by the Coal Action Network amid allegations of wildlife crimes at the Bradley site.

Spokesman Anne Harris said: “We are disappointed that the judge ruled in favour of Banks Group, but this is not permission of the opencast on the Northumberland coastline to go ahead.

“Nothing Banks Group can do could compensate for the release of more carbon dioxide into the atmosphere except for leaving all coal in the ground.”