Some of the YANC team outside Leeds Town Hall before the planning meeting

Good news in from Leeds last week, where a group of energised anti-coal campaigners with the marvellous acronym YANC (Yorkshire Against New Coal) pulled off a fairly stunning coup by persuading the local council to turn down plans for a climate-wrecking open cast coal mine.

The cooling towers of Ferrybridge power station

The decision on a new coal power station at E.ON's Kingsnorth facility in Kent is still expected later this year - the current rumour is around June but as with all government pronouncements you should take that with a very large pinch of salt. Whether it gets the go-ahead or not, it will have ramifications for the other proposed coal developments - including opencast mines - elsewhere in the country.

One of these is at Ferrybridge in west Yorkshire where half of the power station is due to go out of service in 2015. A more immediate threat is the opencast mine planned for the area, which will sit next door to an RSPB nature reserve at Fairburn Ings, and the group Yorkshire Against New Coal (Yanc) is standing in opposition to both plans.

YANC launch their campaign on the steps of Leeds City Hall

Hot on the heels of the successful Kingsnorth trial outcome in Kent comes more good news for those of us committed to preventing new coal projects gaining a foothold across Britain. Yorkshire Against New Coal announced itself on the national stage at the end of last week with a launch event at Leeds Civic Hall.