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Coal tip remediation - not coal tip mining

Coal Tips (Mines and Quarries) Bill

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 in the new Bill mark a sufficient improvement on the Mines and Quarries (Tips) Act 1969, which is being shown up as inadequate to prevent potentially deadly coal tip slips today. The new Bill must prohibit the sale of any coal from coal tips during remediation on the safety grounds that it’ll contribute to fuelling the climate change threatening the stability of all coal tips.

Coal Tips

Coal tips, also known as coal spoil or slag heaps, and overburden are large mounds of waste soil, rocks, and fragments of coal that was dumped there as it was originally in the way between a mining company and the profitable coal it wanted to mine. Sometimes, mining companies promised to return these coal tips down the holes or into the voids they created, but often claimed bankruptcy or found loopholes to avoid this costly process. There are over 2,500 coal tips peppering Wales alone.

Coal tip slips in South Wales

The coal tip slip in the town of Cwmtillery on Sunday 24th November 2024 occurred during Storm Bert, which brought intense rainfall. The coal tip is Category D, which means it is monitored every 6 months – and the last report did not flag any major issues. It follows on from the coal tip slip in 2020, which sent 60,000 tonnes of soil and rocks tumbling in Tylorstown, Rhondda Cynon Taf. That compares with 40,000 tonnes of debris that were dislodged and tumbled into a school in the infamous Aberfan disaster of 1966. Unlike the Aberfan tragedy, the two recent coal tip slips luckily resulted in no loss of human life.

Cause

What each of these coal tips have in common is that they occurred after a period of heavy rain. Leader of Blaenau Gwent council Steve Thomas commented on the recent coal tip slip in Cwmtillery, saying "We can confirm that we are dealing with a localised landslide believed to be caused by excess water as a consequence of weather experienced during Storm Bert."

Geologist Dr Jamie Price explained: "Both more prolonged and more intense rainfall events will heighten the risk of coal tip collapses….Increases in the moisture content of the coal tips and increases in groundwater level in general can affect the stability of these coal tips and could induce failure and collapsing of the coal tips."

Climate change and coal tips

A Cabinet Statement by the Welsh Government in 2023 stated “Winter rainfall has increased in Wales in recent decades, and the Met Office predicts that it will increase further as a result of global warming.”. By 2050 it's thought it could get 6% more rainy in winter in Wales, with as much as 13% more rain by the 2080s. Human-induced climate change made the heavy storm downpours and total rainfall across the UK and Ireland between October 2023 and March 2024 more frequent and intense, according to a rapid attribution analysis by an international team of leading climate scientists. This is exactly what we recently experienced with Storm Bert which led to the most recent coal tip slip in Cwmtillery.

Coal tip remediation – not coal tip mining

ERI Ltd is a mining company that’s seized on community fears in Bedwas, South Wales, to propose mining two of coal tips in the area of around 500,000 tonnes of ‘waste’ coal contained within them on the promise of levelling out the coal tips afterwards. ERI Ltd is tempting Caerphilly County Council with the offer to do this at no cost to the Council, claiming it’ll use a portion of the profits gained by selling the coal it removes from the tips. The problem with this approach is:

  1. ERI Ltd is driven by profit, not community concerns so will leave the coal tip closest to Bedwas residents, likely because this wouldn’t be as profitable for the company to mine.
  2. Not all Category D coal tips have stability risks – having a one-size-fits-all ‘level it’ approach could needlessly decimate vital ecologies that have slowly emerged around many coal tips over the decades.
  3. There is a strong pattern of coal companies abandoning their remediation promises as soon as they’ve sold the coal – which is why thousands of the coal tips exist today. ERI Ltd has little in assets to seize if it does abandon the site years from now. Just this year, Merthyr (South Wales) Ltd abandoned its remediation promises amidst record profits. Similar to ERI Ltd’s proposal, the Ffos-y-fran coal mine was billed as a project to remediate derelict land through coal extraction, but has left it infinitely worse.
  4. Coal is the dirtiest fossil fuel and still the number one fossil fuel driver of climate change globally. If coal tip remediation is allowed to be used as a smokescreen for new coal mining, it’ll contribute to fuelling the climate change that’s threatening the stability of all coal tips.
Published: 27. 11. 2024

This B Corp is funnelling millions to global mining projects

Last year...

Last December in London, the CAN team protested with other climate campaigners for two days in freezing temperatures outside one of the world’s biggest events funnelling investment into expanding mining globally. The ‘Mines and Money Conference’ held in London’s Business Design Centre connected investors with projects and companies responsible for human rights abuses, ecocide, and fuelling climate chaos.

To B Corp, or not to B Corp?

Send an email to pressure the Business Design Centre to live up to its ‘B Corp’ ethical status by dropping the ‘Mines and Money Conference’ this December. We’ll send your email to a list of over 60 other B Corp certified big players, suggesting they protect the reputation of B Corps that they themselves rely on. Pressure from these big players might just be enough to get the Business Design Centre to drop the Mines and Money Conference to save its B Corp status.

Published: 18. 11. 2024

UK Government makes it official: coal mining no more

Massive campaign win!

Coal Action Network has been campaigning for a ban on new coal mining for years, and met with numerous MPs in the lead-up to the 2024 UK General Election. Together with our supporters, we celebrate this clear win for us and for all the communities that won't now suffer noise, dust, and traffic pollution from nearby coal mining. As the first G7 country to ban coal mining, it also sets an example to other G7 countries to follow.

How will the Government ban new coal mining

The UK Government has laid a Written Ministerial Statement confirming that it will introduce legislation to "restrict the future licensing of new coal mines", by amending the Coal Industry Act 1994, "when Parliamentary time allows".

The UK Government's press release is entitled "New coal mining licences will be banned". Here at Coal Action Network, we thinks it's great that the UK Government is following through on its historic manifesto pledge to rule out new coal mining throughout the UK. Following on the coattails of the UK’s exit from coal-fired power generation, this commitment bolsters the UK’s international reputation in leaving behind the world’s dirtiest fossil fuel. We hope to work with the UK Government to ensure no loopholes are carried into the final wording, and to leverage similar commitments in other G20 countries

What might still slip through?

  1. The UK Government's press release is caveated in the Notes to editors with "Limited exceptions to the ban may be required for safety or restoration purposes." - many opencast coal mine proposals for the past 10 years have dressed up their coal mines as restoration projects claiming they'll restore old deep mine shafts or land they brand as derelict and degraded. The notorious sprawling Ffos-y-fran opencast coal mine site is called the 'Ffos-y-fran Land Reclamation Project', for example.
  2. The ban won't affect projects that seek to mine coal from disused coal tips - such as ERI Ltd's proposal to mine two Bedwas coal tips of some 400,000-800,000 tonnes of coal. That's because it doesn't require a Coal Authority licence as the coal's already been extracted from the seam. With hundreds of thousands of tonnes of waste coal contained within thousands of coal tips across South Wales alone, a potentially huge area of coal extraction is entirely unaffected by the UK Government's proposed ban.
  3. The ban won't affect the large and currently operating Aberpergwm deep coal mine, which has planning permission to operate until 2039 to extract 42 million tonnes of coal. Moreover, the proposed ban won't affect the mine's ability to apply for a time-extension after 2039, because it's licence from the Coal Authority is until 2099.
Published: 15. 11. 2024

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

Take action!

Completing our contact form sends your message to Carmarthenshire Counci and us.

Will Councillors reject the application to expand and extend the Glan Lash opencast coal mine, learning from the huge challenges that Merthyr Tydfil County Borough Council is having with the illegal Ffos-y-fran opencast coal mine?

Put into your own words why you want Carmarthenshire Planning Committee to reject the application - here's some points you might choose to include:

  • The coal operator claims they'll supply some of the coal to 'non-burn' uses like brick colourant...but that's dictated by market conditions that are changeable, and as soon as planning permission is granted, the coal operator is free to supply to whoever pays the most for this coal.
  • It goes against the Welsh Government's various climate commitments and policies against continued coal extraction.
  • Some key statistics on the coal mine expansion application.
  • No more delays to a restoration that was originally agreed would be completed before 2018 - let nature return!

Note - a decision may not be made for up to a year or more from now (October 2024)

Submit your objection to more coal mining

Fields marked with * are required

Why do you want Councillors to reject the Glan Lash extension?
Incl. your postcode if you're from Carmarthenshire, it gives your email more weight!

Cymerwch weithred!

Wrth gwbhau ein ffurflen cyswllt mae eich neges yn cael ei anfon i bob un o’r 17 Cynghorydd ar y Pwyllgor Cynllunio Sir Gâr, Cyngor, a ni.

Bydd y Cynghoryddion yn gwrthod y gais i ddatblygu ac ymestyn y pwll glo cast agored Glan Lash, dysgu o’r sialensau anferth mae Cyngor Bro Sir Merthyr Tydfil yn cael gyda’r pwll glo cast agored anghyfreithlon Ffos-y-Fran?

Rhowch yng ngheiriau eich hyn pam yr ydych chi eisiau i Pwyllgor Cynllunio Sir Gâr i wrthod y gais - dyma rhai pwyntiau gallwch ddewis i gynnwys:

  • Mae’r gweithredydd glo yn dweud bydde nhw’n cyflenwi rhai o’r glo i ddefnyddwyr ‘dim-llosg’ fel lliwydd bric…ond mae hynnu’n cael ei arddweud gan cyflwr marchnad sydd yn gally newid, ac mor gynted a mae caniatâd cynllunio yn cael ei rhoi, mae’r gweithredydd glo gyda’r hawl i gyflenwi pwy bynnag sydd yn rhoi y mwyaf o arian am y glo yma.
  • Mae’n mynd yn erbyn ymrwymiadau hinsawdd a polisiau yn erbyn echdynnu glo parheus Llywodraeth Cymru.
  • Mae rhai ysyadegau allweddol ar y gais i ddatblygiad y pwll glo.

E-bostwch aelodau o’r Pwyllgor Cynllunio!

Mae meysydd wedi’i marcio â * yn ofynnol

Pan ydych chi eisiau Cyngorwyr i wrthod yr estyniad i Glan Lash?
Cynnwys eich côd os ydych o Sir Gâr, mae’n rhoi mwy o bwysau i’ch e-bost!
Published: 03/08/2023

Glan Lash extension: the second attempt

A coal mine extension in a climate crisis

Bryn Bach Coal Ltd is the coal mining company that operates the Glan Lash opencast coal mine, which has been dormant since planning permission expired in 2019. In 2018, it applied for an extension which was unanimously rejected by planning councillors in 2023. Undeterred, Bryn Bach Coal Ltd is trying again! This time with a slightly smaller extension of some 85,000 tonnes rather than 95,000 tonnes. Check out the company's application and public responses so far.

According to UK Government industrial coal conversion factors, even the reduced Glan Lash coal mine extension could emit over 270,000 tonnes of CO2 from the use of the coal, a further c18,000 tonnes of CO2e in fugitive methane gas from the mine itself, and an uncalculated amount in emissions from years of heavy machinery excavating many thousands of tonnes of coal, soil, and rock, then returning it again.

The CO2e of the methane and coal use alone is roughly the same as driving from the northern most point in Scotland down through the UK to Lands End in Cornwall… 887 THOUSAND times, or dumping 1 in 5 of Welsh households’ recycling for a year into landfill. Bryn Bach Coal Ltd would need to grow 4.8 million tree seedlings for 10 years just to sequester these estimated emissions, which – needless to say – it does not intend to do. Instead, 2.5 hectares of trees will be destroyed, at least some of which is listed ancient woodland. Whatever the company purports about the quality of its coal or who it would sell the coal to, this coal mine extension in a climate crisis is clearly inexcusable, and sends the wrong message nationally, and internationally. The site was originally supposed to be restored before 2018 but extension applications delayed that and resulted in the decline of nationally and internationally protected habitats, and irreversible loss of nature prevented from returning to restored habitats. It’s time to finally return this land to the nature that was uprooted from it over a decade ago, and avoid the mistakes of Merthyr Tydfil County Borough Council’s policy of appeasement towards Merthyr (South Wales) Ltd and the Ffos-y-fran opencast coal mine. Beyond the greenwash, this small opencast coal mine proposal contributes neither to the rich heritage of Wales, nor to its green and bright future.

Detailed analysis of the 2024 extension application

Welsh Government & Local Council respond to CCEIC's recommendations

Background

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. After being informed of this context, the CCEIC committed to a short committee inquiry on Ffos-y-fran and the broader failure of restoration of former opencast coal mine sites, with oral evidence sessions in April and May 2024, in which Coal Action Network participated. In August 2024, the CCEIC published its report on the handling of Ffos-y-fran and restoration of opencast coal mining sites across South Wales, citing ‘missed opportunities’ and referring to Ffos-y-fran as “symbol of the system's failures”. Both the Welsh Government and Merthyr Tydfil County Borough Council (MTCBC) responded in September 2024 to the 26 recommendations contained in the CCEIC’s report. A selection of their responses are summarised or quoted below with our analysis following each. This is the brief version, check out our full analysis report with accompanying pictures.

Welsh Government

Recommendation 7:

The Welsh Government should commission an independent review to assess the extent of, the funding needed to restore opencast sites to an acceptable level. The independent, review should consider what constitutes an “acceptable level” in consultation with local, authorities and communities.

Welsh Government:

Response: Accept in principle

Welsh Government isn’t liable for funding a programme dealing with open cast mining and land reclamation. Welsh Government has had statutory powers over ‘derelict land’ since April 2006, to protect public safety, create development land and enhance the environmental and social well-being of Wales. In recent years funding for such activity “has been restricted”.  The Welsh Government is therefore concerned that assessing the costs to restore open cast sites may create an expectation that Welsh Government will then fund that restoration.

The operator and landowner is responsible for restoration and aftercare of opencast sites. They must also ensure that sufficient finance is set aside to enable them to meet restoration and aftercare obligations.

Our analysis:

The Welsh Government repeat this through its response to the CCEIC’s recommendations, yet not once explain who is responsible when the operator and landowner fail to, or claim not to have, set aside sufficient finance to restore the site – which has happened at around 7 sites within the past 10 years in South Wales alone.

Recommendation 9

The Welsh Government should require local authorities to ensure all Planning Officers’ reports are available online alongside associated planning documents, including revised, restoration plans, where relevant.

Welsh Government:

Response: Reject

We agree that transparency in planning decision making must be achieved, however, insisting on specific web publishing requirements at this time is premature.

Our analysis:

The thrust of recommendation 9 is to ensure Planning Officer’s reports are made public, as Planning Officers’ reports summarise in plain English numerous technical planning documents. Public access to this key report would greatly improve transparency. The Welsh Government should urge Councils to make Planning Officers’ reports publicly accessible, where possible.

Recommendation 11

The Welsh Government should reconsider the proposal from the 2014 report to establish a virtual “Centre of Excellence” for restoration planning, particularly in light of potential coal-tip reclamation proposals, and lead discussions with local government on how to implement this.

Welsh Government:

Response: Accept in principle

Given our existing presumption against coal extraction, we expect “very few schemes being brought forward”. Our primary focus is to ensure that disused tips are safe and to deliver a modernised, fit-for-purpose regulatory regime. After the disused mine and quarry tips Bill is passed The Welsh Government will take “a more detailed strategic approach to mining and industrial legacy in Wales – this will need to include reclamation of disused tips and management of open cast mining.”

Our analysis:

Contrary to the Welsh Government’s expectation of “very few schemes”, right now there are two schemes proposing coal extraction in South Wales, and a further application to downgrade the remediation scheme for Ffos-y-fran is expected before the end of this year. All these schemes would benefit from the kind of oversight the CCEIC are proposing with its recommendation for a Centre of Excellence, so action by the Welsh Government is needed now rather than years into the future.

Recommendation 12

The Welsh Government must engage with the UK Government with the aim of removing the Coal Authority’s statutory duty to maintain and develop an economically viable coal mining industry.

Welsh Government:

Response: Accept in principle

Whereas we would wish for the Coal Authority to remove its statutory duty to maintain and develop an economically viable coal mining industry, this duty has no practical effect in Wales… The Welsh Government is confident that it has in place the necessary policy and processes to ensure the climate emergency and nature emergency are fully reflected in any decision making.

Our analysis:

Contrary to the Welsh Government’s confidence, its policies were deemed compatible with an opencast coal mine extension just last year in 2023. Additionally, the Welsh Government Minister for Climate Change Julie James wrote to the UK Government in 2021 stating that: “…we consider the statutory duty of the Coal Authority to develop and maintain a viable coal extraction industry must be removed if we are to achieve our policy ambitions…”, which is at odds with the Welsh Government’s response to the CCEIC’s recommendation, and there hasn’t been relevant Welsh policy evolution in the meantime to explain this new position.

Recommendation 14

The Welsh Government should review and update the Minerals Technical Advice Note 2 (MTAN2) to ensure it is fit for purpose, particularly in the context of new developments and coal tip remediation.

Welsh Government:

Response: Reject

Minerals Technical Advice Note 2 Coal (MTAN2) contains comprehensive planning guidance which is robust about restoration and aftercare schemes for coal extraction. Along with all other planning policy, MTAN2 is kept under continual review to ensure it is kept up to date, fit for purpose and relevant.

Our analysis:

The Welsh Government released MTAN2 in 2009, so it fails to reflect the many relevant policy developments over the past 15 years. The Welsh Government’s refusal to review MTAN2 is also bewildering given the policy has ostensibly failed to secure decent restoration of numerous coal mining sites across South Wales since its implementation. MTAN2 needs to be reviewed in line with the CCEIC’s recommendation.

Recommendation 15

The Welsh Government should incorporate provisions for the restoration of former opencast sites within the forthcoming Disused Tips (Mines and Quarries) Bill.

Welsh Government:

Response: Reject

“In his Legislative Statement on 9 July 2024, the then First Minister made clear that inclusion of provisions relating to restoration of former opencast sites within the forthcoming Disused Tips (Mines and Quarries) Bill (the Bill) is not feasible at this time.” The Welsh Government cites further delay due to expansion of scope, and affordability as the key reasons for its position.

Our analysis:

Coal tips are created by the act of deep coal mining. Overburden mounds are created by the act of opencast coal mining – there is little difference between the two in their risk or cause. The other hazards posed by abandoned and under-restored opencast coal mining sites should also be dealt with in the same legislation, given their shared cause, similar urgency, and methods of resolution (monitoring, landscaping, and earth works).

Recommendation 17

The Welsh Government must mandate public consultation for all stages of the restoration process, including when revised restoration plans are brought forward.

Welsh Government:

Response: Accept in principle

Public participation is very important at all stages of the planning process and is to be encouraged. The wide range of development types and scales mean planning legislation can only set a minimum standard of consultation…however we expect planning authorities to consult where the public is materially affected by the submitted details.

Our analysis:

A restoration plan represents a promise made to nearby communities before they endure what is often years of disruption, noise, and dust during subsequent coal mining. Accordingly, those communities should be meaningfully consulted on proposed changes to that promise, with their feedback given significant weight in shaping associated planning decisions and conditions. We ask if the Welsh Government will issue guidance to Local Planning Authorities to this effect, to act on its acceptance in principle of the CCEIC’s recommendation.

Recommendation 18

The Welsh Government should advise local authorities to designate a specific officer as a point of contact for the local community, providing a direct communication channel between residents and local authorities on matters relating to sites or similar developments.

Welsh Government:

Response: Accept in principle

MTAN2 recommends the mining company appoints a site liaison officer. Additionally, Local Planning Authorities have a Planning Case Officer before an application is approved, and the enforcement team for after an application is approved.

Our analysis:

Within Local Planning Authorities, Case Officers often say they are too busy with their main work to engage more with public enquiries and concerns. Given the potential impact of planning applications on nearby communities, there’s clearly a need to have a dedicated contact point for community input and involvement. We ask if the Welsh Government will issue guidance to Local Planning Authorities to this effect, to act on its acceptance in principle of the CCEIC’s recommendation.

Recommendation 19

The Welsh Government should advise local authorities to create online portals where residents can access up-to-date information on all stages of the restoration process.

Welsh Government:

Response: Reject

Insisting on specific web publishing requirements at this time is premature. The Welsh Government is working with the Centre for Digital Public Services (CDPS) in exploring how digital solutions can improve the planning system in Wales. It is anticipated that the communication of decisions will form an integral part of that work. This will bring together the variability currently seen across authorities in a managed cost-effective way.

Our analysis:

The Welsh Government should expedite online public access to planning documents, and have facilitating public engagement as an explicit aim of this work. The poor design of some planning portals currently create barriers to community members accessing critical information about developments that will potentially impact them. We ask the Welsh Government to centre a public consultation in its design of digitalised planning systems.

Recommendation 20

The Welsh Government should encourage the use of citizens' assemblies as forums for discussing the future of restoration sites, particularly where restoration failed to meet the original planning permission and compromises need to be made.

Welsh Government:

Response: Reject

National planning guidance already recognises that well established liaison committees help to provide a better understanding of the impacts to be expected from mineral extraction. Many quarries and coal sites have established liaison committees which act as a forum for regular discussion and explanation of current problems. Where regular complaints are received or there is concern about local impacts the local planning authority should request that the operator cooperate in establishing regular meetings of a nominated group.

Our analysis:

We agree with the National Planning guidance’s promotion of community liaison committees, but find execution is inconsistent, and in some cases, absent altogether – even where there are serious breaches of planning control and trust. This has left some participating residents we’ve spoken with feeling ignored and apathetic. We ask if the Welsh Government will reconsider the sentiment of the CCEIC’s recommendation, by strengthening the National Planning guidance on community liaison committees.

Recommendation 21

The Welsh Government must explore stronger enforcement mechanisms to address breaches of planning controls without delay, such as the mining activities that continued at Ffos-y-Fran after the licence expired.

Welsh Government:

Response: Reject

The Town and Country Planning Act 1990 provides a range of effective enforcement options depending on the circumstances. Enforcement is focused on addressing the unacceptable impacts of unauthorised development rather than punishing the developer. Given the complex nature of planning impacts on both the environment and people it is sometimes acceptable to allow unauthorised activities to continue while consideration is given to the best course of action. That is what Merthyr Tydfil County Borough Council concluded at Ffos-y-Fran. However, where unacceptable harm is happening, the law does currently provide authorities with powers to stop activities immediately, either through a stop notice or Court injunction.

Our analysis:

Ffos-y-fran highlights that enforcement options are only robust to the extent that they can be implemented. For 15 months, Merthyr Tydfil County Borough Council believed the consequences of using enforcement options available to it were worse than allowing severe, long-term, harmful, and persistent breaches of planning control. This suggests that current enforcement options are not fit for purpose. Therefore we ask if the Welsh Government will reconsider the CCEIC’s recommendation and review existing planning enforcement options for their practical effectiveness in controlling largescale developments?

Recommendation 26

The Welsh Government should consider the broader implications of the failures at Ffos-y-Fran and implement systemic changes to prevent similar issues in future, including in relation to coal-tip reclamation sites.

Welsh Government:

Response: Accept in principle

Welsh Government coal extraction planning policy is clear that development proposals will only be approved in wholly exceptional circumstances. There will therefore be very few schemes being brought forward. At the present time, our primary focus is to ensure that disused tips are safe and to deliver a modernised, fit-for-purpose regulatory regime.

Our analysis:

In the face of the Welsh Government’s expectation of ‘very few schemes’, there are currently two schemes in pre-application consultation (Bedwas Tips and an extension to Glan Lash) proposing coal extraction in South Wales, with remediation dimensions. Ffos-y-fran is a current example of the abject failure of planning control to secure the agreed restoration, even after allowing 15 months of illegal coal mining with an associated 1.6 million tonnes of CO2. Ffos-y-fran is not a lone example, but rather part of a history of planning control failing to deliver the agreed standard of restoration at East Pit, Selar, Margam Parc Slip, and Nant Helen within the past decade alone in South Wales. If the Welsh Government refuses to learn lessons from this egregious breach of its own national policy on coal mining, it calls into question whether the  Welsh Government gives the CCEIC’s findings the gravitas they clearly merit. Such a refusal also risks the repeat of mistakes that led to avoidable harm to surrounding communities, the local environment and restoration liability, our shared climate, planning control, trust in the Local Planning Authority, and Wales’s reputation as a climate leader. We ask the Welsh Government to reconsider the relevance and urgency of reviewing the broader implications of the failures at Ffos-y-Fran and implement systemic changes to prevent similar issues in future, in-line with the CCEIC’s recommendation.

Historic moment ends coal for power generation

The UK is reaching a major milestone in its transition to clean energy, one that Coal Action Network has campaigned for since its inception in 2008 — the complete phase-out of coal power generation. From October 2024, Ratcliffe power station — the last remaining coal-fired power station in the country — will be permanently shuttered. It is a milestone that should be celebrated, and one that serves as an inspiration to other countries around the world to follow suit.

Coal has been a mainstay of the UK's power grid for over a century, both driven and sustained by British colonialism. At its peak in 1950, coal accounted for 97% of the UK's electricity generation. Since then, concerns over climate change and air pollution contributed to successive UK Governments pushing the world’s dirtiest fossil fuel out of the UK power mix.

Through a combination of policies, renewable technology alternatives, market forces, and public pressure, the UK has steadily reduced its reliance on coal power over the past decade. Measures such as the carbon price floor, restrictions on coal plant emissions, and the rapid growth of renewable energy sources like wind and solar have all contributed to coal's decline.

The phasing out of coal power entirely is a major victory for the environment and public health. Coal combustion is a major source of greenhouse gases, as well as harmful air pollutants like fine particulate matter, sulphur dioxide, and nitrogen oxides. By eliminating coal from the energy mix, the UK has taken a crucial step in reducing its carbon footprint and improving air quality.

Looking ahead, the challenge now is to ensure that the UK's energy system remains reliable and affordable as it continues to transition towards renewable sources. This will require significant investment in grid infrastructure, energy storage, and flexible generation capacity to balance the intermittency of wind and solar power.

Nevertheless, the end of coal power in the UK is a testament to the countless hours committed by both climate activists and local people who spent countless hours and risked their freedom campaigning to close the coal-fired power stations poisoning the air they breathe and trashing the climate we all rely upon. But the spectre of coal still looms with the UK continuing to mine and export coal abroad - in 2023 alone, UK exports of coal generated around 1.8 million tonnes of CO2. It is reckless and hypocritical to dump the dirtiest of fossil fuels on other countries whilst boasting that the UK itself has moved beyond coal.

Check out our current campaigns against ongoing coal mining operations in the UK.

Coal, British Industry, and Colonialism

FUELLING, AND FUELLED BY, COLONIALISM

Coal powered Britain’s industrial and economic expansion during its Industrial Revolution. The abundance of coal discovered in Britain was a key factor that enabled the country’s early industrialisation, developing technologies and industries unfeasible elsewhere due to the lack of cheap energy sources. The British Empire’s expansion was partly driven by the need for other resources and labour to fuel this industrial growth, leading to the exploitation of natural resources in colonised regions.

The demand for coal intensified as the British economy expanded, and the empire’s infrastructure, such as steam-powered railways and ships, was largely powered by coal. This infrastructure extended the empire’s colonial expansion and exploitation of resources.

DECLINE IN EMPIRE AND COAL

The British Empire’s decline after World War II coincided with significant economic changes in the UK. As the empire contracted, the UK faced economic challenges that necessitated a shift in industrial focus. The coal industry, which had been a cornerstone of the British economy during the height of the empire, began to decline as the UK sought to modernise its economy and reduce reliance on traditional industries. As the empire declined, the UK faced increased competition from other countries that were industrialising and developing their own energy resources. This competition, combined with the high cost of domestic coal production, made coal less economically viable on the global market. These market conditions made it possible for Margaret Thatcher, then Prime Minister, to rapidly and infamously dismantle coal mining in the UK, closing 159 coal mines 1984-1994.

The Clean Air Act of 1950 and later environmental policies further accelerated the decline of coal. The “Dash for Gas” in the 1990s, driven by the repeal of restrictions on gas use in power stations, further reduced coal’s share in the energy mix. In the 2000s, improvements to battery storage, increasingly cheaper renewable energy technologies, and carbon credit schemes, made coal progressively uncompetitive and unnecessary.

ANTI-COLONIAL RESISTANCE IN THE 2000s

The decline in coal mining in the UK and the slower decline of coal use means the UK became increasingly dependent on coal imports, often from former colonies and poorer regions of the world. The colonial dynamics of this was increasingly centred by activists in the UK in grassroots resistance to ongoing coal dependency. Activists highlighted that the UK’s continuing use of coal in the UK had a double effect of inflicting on the global south; off-shoring localised environmental damage and displacement from coal mining, and then the worst consequences of climate change that burning that coal would return to those communities. The widely publicised climate camps and grassroots campaigning helped shape an increasingly negative public perception of coal. This, together with declining reliance on coal, coincided with a new UK Labour Government policy in 2009 that any new coal-fired power station would need to be fitted with carbon capture and storage. This technology was so expensive and largely ineffective that it effectively deterred any proposals for new coal-fired power stations. With existing and ageing coal-fired power stations coming to the end of their operating lives over the 15 years that followed, and now no coal-fired prospects to replace them, the Conservative Government that inherited this decline set in motion by the previous Government’s policy, branded it a new climate commitment to remove coal from the UK’s energy mix by 2025, later brought forward to 2024.

That brings us to Ratcliffe-on-Soar, that UK’s last coal-fired power station, fated to close at the end of September 2024, ending an era of coal-fired power generation in the UK. Coal used for other industrial purposes such as steel manufacturing and cement production are also a focus of decarbonisation efforts and public subsidy. As the UK moves away from the coal it used to rely upon, existing coal mines in the UK – most notably Aberpergwm, which is licenced to operate until 2039 – would need to export its coal to maintain sales. This could risk returning to a colonial dynamic where the UK benefits from dumping resources on developing countries that are considered unfit to use domestically due to air pollution and other factors.

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Published: 17. 09. 2024

Take action - let planners say no to new coal mining

TAKE ACTION

The public consultation window for the National Policy and Planning Framework represents the first opportunity since the new UK Government was formed to stop any new coal mine application winning planning permission across England. This sweeping change would go a long way to ruling out any new coal mines in the country.

BACKGROUND

For the last year we have been working behind the scenes to persuade political parties to commit to banning new coal mines in the UK. Thanks to our work, 5 major parties in Parliament committed to this in their manifestos, including the new UK Government.

One of the first actions the new Government is taking is to reform the National Planning Policy Framework. Their main focus is on building more houses and renewable energy projects. But one part of the NPPF advises local planning authorities on whether they should grant permission to applications for more coal extraction. Currently, the guidance is vague which and open to expensive legal challenge from mining companies which can make planners wary to refusing permission to new coal mine applications.

We know new coal extraction must be stopped, and we want the UK Government to ensure that happens in this reform by providing the clear direction planners need to confidently say NO to new coal mine applications.

The Government is running an open consultation on their proposed reforms until September 24th. The more folks who write in, the harder it'll be for the UK Government to ignore your collective call to draw the line in the sand right here, right now. Help us end coal mining in England by using our form to respond.

Published: 13. 09. 2024