AN EXTINCTION Rebellion (XR) group is to stage a demonstration outside county council offices in south Cumbria.

XR Cumbria members will begin a 'semi-naked' protest in front of the council's Kendal headquarters at around 1pm.

The environmental group is seeking to apply further pressure on the local authority, as it approaches a critical decision in the planning process behind the proposed deep mine - which would be the UK's first in three decades - near Whitehaven.

The protest follows a series of other minor demonstrations and actions over the planned Cumbrian mine which have taken place this year, as well as larger actions that have taken place in London and Manchester during recent weeks.

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

Earlier this month, 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.

Buoyed by the decision, XR branches across Cumbria have been calling on the county council to follow the Secretary of State's line.

At the time, a spokesperson for XR Furness 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."