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The human cost of the stolen £millions

The mining company, Merthyr (South Wales) Ltd, is trying to cheat the residents of Merthyr Tydfil out of tens of millions of pounds worth of restoration by massively reducing the restoration it agreed to carry out at the end of 16 years of coal mining. To understand the lasting impacts this would have, and why we must resist it, we've made a guide on the community impacts of two other 'zombie' restorations in South Wales where the same happened.

Zombie restorations

Former opencast coal mining sites like East Pit, Margam Parc Slip, Nant Helen, and Selar are all recent examples of 'zombie restorations' carried out on budgets often amounting to 10% of what the promised restoration would have cost - sometimes even less. Ffos-y-fran looks set to join that list. Restorations are so-called because they are meant to return natural life to the area after coal mining has finished, often with promises of even more natural habitat and life than there was before. But just like zombies (depending on the movie), these restorations is that they can appear fairly normal if you don't look too closely and you didn't know what it looked like before... but there's very little natural life in these areas after coal mining.

Communities paying the price

Often planning permission is granted for coal mining on the basis that the area will be restored with even better natural habitats and public amenity (access, facilities etc.) than before. Surrounding communities pay the price for the promised restoration with years of noise, dust, and disruption to their daily lives. When that restoration is inevitably denied by profiteering mining companies, communities report:

  1. Not being able to move on
  2. Loss of place and history
  3. Reduced access to green space
  4. Safety risks

Get clued up on the detail to resist your local apocalypse

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