Deep coal mines have a long history in the UK dating back some 400 years. On the other hand, opencast coal mines only became common between 1940 and 60, becoming the dominant mining method in the UK as deep coal mining entered rapid decline. Opencast coal mining techniques…
We worked with media outlet, Nation.Cymru, to ask where the main political parties in Wales stands on restoration issues ahead of the Welsh election on 07th May 2026. This is a key issue for many people, but particularly those who live near under-restored opencast coal mine sites…
Merthyr (South Wales) Ltd mined for over a year illegally after planning permission for the Ffos-y-fran opencast coal mine ended in September 2022. During that year, it made record-breaking profits due to sanctions on Russia and other factors driving up the price of coal. But rather than using some of the profits from that ill-gotten coal…
Coal Action Network has obtained new legal advice from expert Barristers Estelle Dehon (KC) and Rowan Clapp of Cornerstone Chambers, London. Examining relevant…
On July 1st, 2025, CAN organised drop-in session at the Senedd, spotlighting the urgent need for action on Wales’ coal legacy issues. The event saw strong cross-party engagement, with Members of the Senedd (MSs)…
Coal Action Network was invited to attend Westminster where we gave evidence to the Welsh Affairs Committee in their inquiry about the environmental and economic legacy of Wales’ industrial past, alongside Friends of the Earth Cymru. This inquiry was opened in…
16 years of opencast coal mining in Ffos-y-fran has generated colossal overburden mounds, also known as slag heaps or coal tips. There are three coal tips, with the third being the largest, and cumulatively accounting for 37 million cubic metres of colliery spoil, rocks, and soil…
We were invited for the second time to give oral evidence to the Climate Change, Environment, and Infrastructure Committee of the Welsh Parliament (Senedd) on 05th February 2025. We shared the panel with Haf, Director of FOE Cymru, to provide our opinion on the weaknesses, strengths…
MSW claims “It was established that there are insufficient funds available to achieve the 2015 restoration strategy and therefore an alternative scheme is required.” (EIA Scoping Report, July 2024)… To our knowledge, there has been no evidence submitted by MSW that it cannot fund the full restoration it is contracted to undertake…
The Disused Mine and Quarry Tips (Wales) Bill (‘the Bill’) was prompted by a series of coal tip landslides that occurred in Wales following storms’ Ciara and Dennis in 2020, including a major landslide of a disused coal tip in Tylorstown…
The Welsh Government’s long-awaited Bill is expected to be presented to the Senedd before the end of 2024. The very recent Cwmtillery tip slip will make this Bill a more politically charged issue. It will also raise scrutiny over whether measures…
Former opencast coal mining sites like East Pit, Margam Parc Slip, Nant Helen, and Selar are all recent examples of under-restored areas carried out on budgets as little as 10% of what the promised restoration would have cost – sometimes even less. Ffos-y-fran looks set to join that list. Restorations 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 whilst some…
In May 2023, Coal Action Network wrote to the Climate Change, Energy, and Infrastructure Committee (CCEIC) of the Welsh Senedd, informing the Committee of the ongoing illegal coal mining at Ffos-y-fran in Merthyr Tydfil, and the Council and Welsh Government’s refusal to use their enforcement powers to prevent the daily extraction of over 1,000 tonnes of coal…
ERI Ltd launched its pre-application consultation in early 2024 to mine two coal tips in Bedwas, South Wales. The company is proposing to extract a total of around 468,000 tonnes of coal from both tips…
The Senedd’s Climate Change, Environment, and Infrastructure Committee (CCEIC) has released a critical report on the management of opencast coal mining in Wales, particularly focusing on Ffos-y-Fran, one of the last opencast…
