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Glan Lash opencast extension refused...again

Carmarthenshire County Council has rejected Bryn Bach Coal Ltd’s second attempt to expand and extend the currently dormant Glan Lash opencast coal mine, amidst hundreds of hand-written and online objections from residents in the county (see below for a small selection). The decision reflects a clear, strategic commitment to climate leadership, rare habitat protection, and safeguarding the health of surrounding communities. There are no live applications for new coal mines, and only two active coal mines remain in the UK – a large, underground coal mine in Aberpergwm, Glynneath and a small underground coal mine called Ayle Colliery in Northumberland. There is further a proposal (pre-application stage) to mine the Bedwas coal tips of waste coal.

Emissions

The proposed expansion was the mining company’s second application following unanimous rejection by Councillors of the company’s first application in September 2023. The second application reduced the amount of coal to be mined from 95,000 tonnes to 85,000 over 5.4 years, with a slightly smaller area to be excavated. However, the latest application remained incompatible with Wales’ coal and protected habitats policies. Rejecting this application has prevented the release of hundreds of thousands of tonnes of CO2 and methane, as well as exhaust emissions from years of heavy machinery. The would-be commercial buyers of this coal – as listed by the mining company – sell anthracite coal to burn on the international market, and undermining the mining company’s claims that coal mined at Glan Lash would not be burned. Selling Glan Lash coal on the international market would fuel dependence abroad on the world’s number one dirtiest fossil fuel, whilst the UK itself transitions to greener, cleaner industry and air quality.

Habitats

Beyond emissions, an independent ecologist’s report outlines in stark terms how the mine expansion would have destroyed a further 2.5 hectares of woodland, including sections of listed ancient woodland, as well as over 400 metres of precious hedgerow habitat. It also would have delayed the excavated area’s restoration (which planning permission originally required to be delivered in 2019) by a further 5.4 years. The mining company originally committed to start restoring the site in 2018, but delayed this with successive attempts to extend mining instead. These delays have coincided with the deterioration of protected habitats on the site such as those supporting the threatened Marsh Fritillary butterflies, whose numbers have plummeted across the UK by 64% since just 2005. This refusal paves the way to finally require the company to return the land for the benefit of nature and local communities.

30m to the nearest house

With the closest homes just 30 metres from the edge of the opencast site, the application was also clearly incompatible with the 500-metre minimum buffer zone required by Welsh Government policy to protect surrounding communities from excessive noise, dust, and air pollution and disturbance.

Welsh and UK policy

Carmarthenshire Planning Authority’s decision reflects alignment with the Welsh Government’s positions on coal, climate, and nature recovery, the UK Government’s commitment to prevent new coal mining licences, and the international movement to phase out coal.

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