Campaigners persuade Welsh Gov’t to intervene in £91.2M cleanup of Ffos-y-fran

TL;DR summary

Mining company Merthyr (South Wales) Ltd is trying to dodge its agreed £91.2 million restoration of the Ffos-y-fran coal mine, proposing to cut 90% of the cleanup work. Following relentless campaigning from local residents, Coal Action Network, and FOE Cymru, the Welsh Government has stepped in to hold a Public Inquiry – in which local residents urgently need funding for legal representation to take on the company.

Key points

The Problem: After mining unlawfully past its deadline, Merthyr Ltd is attempting to evade a £91.2m cleanup, threatening to leave local communities with polluted mine water, collapsing cliffs, and dangerous coal tips.
The Council failure: Merthyr Tydfil Council spent 72 hours meeting with the mining company and zero hours with residents, sparking fears of a ‘cosy relationship’ and accusations of unexplained support.
Major campaign win: In April 2026, Cabinet Secretary Rebecca Evans MS “called in” the decision, taking control away from the council and ordering a Public Inquiry under a Welsh Minister.
What’s at stake: Enforcing the “polluter pays” principle, protecting biodiversity, securing the safety of a 400-hectare site for 58,000 residents, and preventing future coal tip disasters on the 60th anniversary of Aberfan.

David and Goliath – our money’s on David

The United Valleys Action Group (UVAG)—a local resident-led group—is fighting the mining company’s deep-pocketed legal team at the inquiry. They urgently need funding to hire expert witnesses and legal representation to ensure nature is restored.

The longer version

BACKGROUND

Ffos-y-fran is a story of corporate negligence and regulatory failure. After extracting profits for 16 years—including mining unlawfully past its 2022 deadline—mining company, Merthyr (South Wales) Ltd, is now trying to wriggle off the hook for the £91.2m site restoration which was a condition of the mining. If allowed, this would leave local communities with a gaping void flooded with polluted mine water, a 100m crumbling cliff face, and 3 huge coal tips – one already collapsing and another warned to become unstable. The tax payer shouldn’t be left with the company’s clean-up bill, and the town of Merthyr Tydfil deserves nature to be restored after enduring 16 years of mining noise, dust, and disruption.

CAMPAIGN TO ESCALATE TO THE WELSH GOVERNMENT

Alongside other groups and supporters, Coal Action Network campaigned hard to block this mining company’s attempted evasion. We were concerned the Council would be pressured into accepting new terms by the mining company to do only a tiny proportion of the planned restoration. Documents released under FOI indicate that the Council may agree to what the company wants in fear the mining company would otherwise abandon the site entirely, and run off with the money. Although we generally think decisions should be made locally, Merthyr Council’s 72 hours of meeting with the mining company and zero hours of meeting with communities made us appeal to the Welsh Government ‘call in’ the decision to be made by a Minister after a Public Inquiry. This would take the decision out of the hands of the compromised Merthyr Tydfil County Borough Council, already accused by a Senedd Committee of “epic mismanagement”.

SUCCESS! DECISION CALLED-IN BY WELSH GOVERNMENT

In April 2026, the Cabinet Secretary for Economy, Energy and Planning, Rebecca Evans MS, authorised that the matter of Ffos-y-fran’s restoration be decided by a Welsh Minister following a public inquiry. This has taken the decision out of the hands of Merthyr Tydfil County Borough Council. We welcome this decision, but this is only the beginning of our work now. The stated grounds/scope of the call in are:

Claims the restoration scheme is based on cost rather than adequate planning outcomes;
Conflict with national polices on site remediation;
Wide interest in coal policy and successful remediation;
The lack of remediation safeguards for mining sites creating a wide precedent;
Concern about new coal tips being left in place;
Procedural concerns about how the planning authority has processed the application and its handling of enforcement at the site; and
Concerns regarding the integrity of the site operator.

PUBLIC INQUIRY

At a public inquiry, a neutral Planning Inspector will look at all the documents already submitted, and hear from expert witnesses arguing to grant or refuse a planning application. In this case, the planning application is by the mining company to gut around 90% of the work from the agreed restoration plan. It may seem obvious to refuse this application and get the company to get on with the restoration work it contractually agreed to and should have completed by the end of 2024. But the mining company has deep pockets to fund greenwash, and the Council seems to be on their side.

United Valleys Action Group (UVAG) is a group of residents local to Ffos-y-fran, and their supporters. UVAG needs to show the Planning Inspector the truth of Ffos-y-fran, and what’s at stake. To do this, UVAG needs funding to get legal representation and call expert witnesses in the highly technical Public Inquiry to come. As a small, resident-led group, UVAG doesn’t have the deep pockets that the mining company has, or the team of staff that the Council has. It needs your help – don’t let the mining company run off with £91.2 million-worth of nature restoration work.

WHAT’S AT STAKE

Another setback Wales can’t afford in reversing biodiversity decline as one of the most nature-depleted nations in the world.
An irreversible erosion of the polluter pays principle – opening Wales up to polluting industries who also refuse to clean up its mess later. This is how Wales became home to over 2,500 coal tips and widespread heavy metal contamination. Enough is enough.
£91.2 million restoration of a 400ha site on the doorsteps of Merthyr Tydfil’s 58,000 population.
A dangerous landscape that will be a risk to life and limb of young people once the company’s security team leaves the site.
Three more coal tips added to Wales list of disused coal tips in the same year that the Tips Authority is created and on the 60^th anniversary of the tip slip disaster in Aberfan.