Lethal landscape: cuts to Ffos-y-fran mine restoration puts community at risk
A new plan to cut every corner
Merthyr (South Wales) Ltd operates the recently closed sprawling Ffos-y-fran opencast coal mine, next to the town of Merthyr Tydfil – home to around 58,000 people. In 2015, Merthyr (South Wales) Ltd agreed a restoration plan with Merthyr Tydfil Council, which – after coal mining ended – would see the landscape put back to before coal mining began and with extensive habitat improvement to support nature to return to the area.
But as soon as Merthyr (South Wales) Ltd saw there was no more profit to be made, it claimed that it had failed to set aside enough of its profits to fund the restoration plan it agreed to deliver back in 2015. Rather than taking Merthyr (South Wales) Ltd to court over what would be a breach of contract and trust, Merthyr Tydfil Council invited the company to gut that restoration agreement by around £85 million in works, and with no punitive action against the company.
This is despite all public records indicating Merthyr (South Wales) Ltd actually can afford the original restoration plan.
We’ve been here before…
Within the last decade, Celtic Energy Ltd – another mining company, evaded well over £100 million in restoration costs and made a high quality restoration impossible at 4 opencast coal mines across South Wales. Communities living close to these sub-standard restorations still pay the price for Celtic Energy Ltd’s profiteering. In fact, the Welsh landscape is littered with over 2,500 coal tips – abandoned by coal mining operations and now forming a huge burden estimated to cost £600 million to deal with.
Merthyr (South Wales) Ltd’s attempt to evade the cost of the restoration it agreed to at Ffos-y-fran is therefore just the most recent instance of an industry that continues to cost some of the poorest communities in South Wales more than it ever gave them. But all is not lost for the 58,000 residents of nearby Merthyr Tydfil. We’re standing alongside vocal campaigners in the area against this attempt by Merthyr (South Wales) Ltd to short-change the town of Merthyr Tydfil by £91.2 million in restoration funds. You can help us by taking 2 min to object to this application on the local council’s website.
Our full report on why these cuts must be rejected
