The Government is reforming planning policy in England and thanks to thousands of our supporters asking for an end to coal extraction in the last consultation in 2024, they are now recommending that planners "should not identify new sites or extensions to existing sites for peat or coal extraction". The Government is now running a consultation on its latest draft which includes this wording.

So it's time for our supporters to take action again and prove that the Government is well supported to prohibit coal extraction. If we flood the consultation with supportive submissions for this particular policy, we will certainly drown out any pro fossil fuel voices seeking to change the Government's mind.

Please take two minutes of your time to send our template submission by the deadline of 10th March 2026.

In November 2024, the new UK Government announced its intention to legislate a ban of new coal mining licences – which we welcomed. Over a year later, the legislation is yet to be introduced, and the Government is not planning to include all types of extraction.

2026 needs to be the year that ALL coal extraction is banned. Here’s Why that is, and How it can be done:

May’s local authority and devolved Government elections will possibly see gains for pro coal candidates. This could result in local authorities across the UK and possibly even the Welsh Government being run by Councillors and Members who are part of a party that has stated its aim to re-open coal mines. While this is impossible in many circumstances; Britain’s 5,000 coal tips are within reach.

The current Welsh Government’s Coal Policy adds a level of scrutiny to potentially prevent coal tip extraction, but a new Government could abandon this policy and approve many of Wales’ 2,590 coal tips to be mined if they have been given approval by local authorities. In England, only local authorities need to approve coal tip extraction- using the same framework which Cumbria County Council used to approve the West Cumbria coal mine.

With more local authorities likely to be led by pro coal Councillors, now is the time to ensure that ALL types of coal extraction are treated equally, banned nationally and that the ban is legislated before any coal tips are approved to be mined by local authorities.

Coal Action Network commissioned leading environmental Barristers Rowan Clapp and Estelle Dehon KC to draft the precise wording of amendments to the Coal Industry Act 1994. This advice showed that relatively minor amendments could be made whilst legislating the coal licence ban to achieve this aim. This advice has been shared with the Government.

Referring to the coal policies of devolved Governments, Energy Minister Michael Shanks told us during a Westminster Hall debate in October; “Their firm view is that they can bring into effect the aim of the Welsh Government and the UK Government to make sure that extraction of coal is a thing of the past. Their view is that their existing powers do that.”

Coal Action Network does not agree that existing powers do prevent further extraction due to the reasons mentioned above. Therefore, we are reaching out to Westminster and the devolved Governments. The Welsh Government in particular needs to consider the wider implications of banning coal tip extraction across the UK. While their coal policy could prevent 2,590 coal tips in Wales from being exploited whilst it is adhered to by a Government which seeks the end of coal; their advocacy for the inclusion of coal tips in this Westminster legislation could almost double their impact by expanding that ban to the other 2,400 coal tips throughout the rest of the UK.

Members of Parliament

• Ask when the Government plans to introduce the coal licence ban legislation. Request that it is introduced in 2026 - particularly as Colombia hosts the world's first fossil fuel transition Conference in April.
• Welsh MPs can write to the Welsh Government asking it to advocate for the Westminster coal licence ban to include coal tips.
• English MPs can highlight to DESNZ that the National Planning Policy Framework (NPPF) could still allow the extraction of coal tips. Hence the need for the coal licence ban to include our suggested amendments.
• Scottish MPs can write to the Scottish Government asking it to advocate for the Westminster coal licence ban to include coal tips.

Members of the Senedd

• Ask the Welsh Government to advocate for the Westminster coal licence ban to include coal tips. They should do this for two reasons:
  • To expand the impact of the Welsh coal policy beyond Wales’ 2,590 coal tips to all 5,000 coal tips across the UK.
  • To safeguard against the possibility of pro coal parties taking power at local and national levels, in Wales and the rest of the UK.

Members of the Scottish Parliament

• Ask the Scottish Government to advocate for the Westminster coal licence ban to include coal tips. They should do this for two reasons:
  • To expand the impact of Scotland’s position against coal extraction to protect all 5,000 coal tips across the UK from being mined.
  • To safeguard against the possibility of pro coal parties taking power at local and national levels, in Scotland and the rest of the UK.

Last month we worked with Members of Parliament from various parties on a Westminster Hall debate about coal tip safety and the prohibition of new coal extraction licences.

The debate happened 59 years and one day after the Aberfan tragedy which killed 116 children and 28 adults. Rooted in this context, the debate highlighted the need to prioritise coal tip safety whilst also preventing the extraction of coal from these tips.

Plaid Cymru MP, Ann Davies, led the debate and highlighted that ‘because of increasingly violent storms caused by climate change, we have experienced further coal tip slips’. This is an important point in this debate as the further exacerbation of climate change, via the extraction and use of more coal, would lead to further slips.

She added ‘The UK Government have pledged to ban new coalmining licences, but they have confirmed their belief that re-mining coal from the tips does not require a licence, meaning that such activity falls outside the scope of the proposed ban. Although the Welsh Government believe that their own planning policies will prevent re-mining, a loophole allowing coal extraction in “wholly exceptional circumstances” has raised concern’.

Labour MP, Gerald Jones, discussed mining companies failing to comply with their legal obligations – a danger which could happen again with coal tip extraction. He used the example of the Ffos - Y - Fran opencast mine in his constituency: ‘When it first opened, the company running the mine, Merthyr (South Wales) Ltd, pledged to fully restore the site after it finished operations. I call on it to honour that pledge.’

Liberal Democrat MP, David Chadwick, reflected on the Reform party policy to re-open the pits earlier in the year. A move which, in many cases is not possible, but would be a clear abandonment of our responsibilities to future generations. He said: ‘The people of the south Wales valleys have given more than enough, and we are still waiting for our new south Wales to emerge. We deserve safety, fairness and a future built on renewal, not nostalgia.’

Labour MP, Steve Witherden, made a passionate and precise demand that the Government include coal tips within its coal licence ban: ‘Mining companies offering to remove coal tips in return for commercial access to coal is an easy answer to a difficult question, which we cannot allow, so I ask the Minister this. If the Government truly believe that the Welsh Government’s coal policy and England’s and Scotland’s planning policies are robust enough to prevent coal extraction, why do investors think otherwise? ERI Reclamation is actively seeking to extract 468,000 tonnes of coal from tips in Bedwas, Caerphilly. It clearly believes that the law allows that, and it is putting serious capital behind the belief. If this is approved—it is an “if”—it could set a dangerous precedent, whereby private profits determine which coal tips are removed and others, with less content, are left. It would be a precedent categorising coal tips by their value rather than their potential impact on public safety. Could we see landowners, burdened by maintenance costs, encouraged to sell access to these sites?

We cannot and must not rely on the private sector to make coal tips safe. That duty falls on us. The Government’s coal licensing ban must be strengthened to include coal tip mining.’

Liberal Democrat spokesperson for energy security and net zero, Pippa Heylings MP, eloquently highlighted Coal Action Network’s legal advice which shows how to include coal tips in the coal licence ban: ‘In practice, extracting coal from a tip is no different from open-cast mining. The method is the same, the disruption is the same, the risks are the same and the emissions are the same. The contradiction can be easily resolved. Leading environmental lawyers, working with the Coal Action Network, have proposed an amendment to the Coal Industry Act 1994 to clarify that the mining of coal from coal tips also requires a licence. That small change would ensure that the Government’s coal ban is comprehensive and future-proof.’

Energy Minister, Michael Shanks MP, concluded the debate, summarising that ‘We acknowledge the suggestion to make this type of coal extraction a licensable activity under the MRA, which would allow for a licensing prohibition, but our view is that the current planning policies around the regulations set by devolved Governments already provide robust frameworks.

We are a Government who believe in devolution. We created devolution in Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland because we believe in devolving power to those authorities, so they are closer to people and to individual circumstances. It is right that we take their lead on these questions. Their firm view is that they can bring into effect the aim of the Welsh Government and the UK Government to make sure that extraction of coal is a thing of the past. Their view is that their existing powers do that.’

While we at Coal Action Network hope that the Minister’s faith in devolved powers to make coal extraction a thing of the past is well founded; we fear that a different Welsh Government could have an opposing aim and would be able to achieve that under current circumstances. The English National Planning Policy Framework (NPPF) was also not considered by the Minister, which allowed the West Cumbria coal mine to gain planning permission and would also allow coal tip extraction throughout England’s coal fields.

We would like to thank each of the Members for taking part in the debate and making the case for banning coal tip extraction.

Coal Action Network will continue to campaign for the inclusion of coal tip extraction in the coal licence ban.

After the tragic passing of Hefin David MS, a by- election is being held in the Senedd seat of Caerphilly on October 23^rd 2025.

Within the borders of the Caerphilly constituency is the proposed Bedwas coal tips re-mining project. In the lead up to the Senedd by-election, Coal Action Network has carried out a survey of the by-election candidates asking for their views about the re-mining of the Bedwas and other Welsh coal tips.

We asked the same two questions to each candidate:

1. Are you for or against the proposal to re-mine coal from the Bedwas coal tips?
2. Is there anything else you want to add about your attitude toward coal extraction in Wales, coal tip safety or climate change?

Of the eight candidates, six responded. Each candidates response is published in full here, in order of when we received their response:

In November 2024, the UK Government announced its commitment to legislating a ban of new coal mining licences. This was a commitment that Coal Action Network had previously secured in the Government's pre-election manifesto, along with four other major parties.

Despite this, one loophole remains in the legislation which could still allow millions of tonnes of coal to be extracted from coal tips throughout the UK. Since the announcement we have continued to pressure the Government to ensure that this loophole is closed and that all types of coal extraction are banned.

The next step in this work is to provide the Government with the precise wording that could be used to ensure that coal tips do not remain the sole place where coal can be mined at commercial scale. To do this we commissioned advice from leading environmental barristers Estelle Dehon KC and Rowan Clapp.

The advice  has been sent to the Secretary of State for Energy Security and Net Zero, Ed Miliband MP; Energy Minister Michael Shanks MP; and the Department for Energy Security and Net Zero.

The advice we received sets out how to change the Coal Industry Act 1994 so the ban of new coal mining licences also clearly covers coal-tip extraction.

Until now, the wording of the Act has been ambiguous. Without being made clearer, tip coal has been entering the energy market and could continue to do so if the legislation does not  remove this ambiguity. In turn, this would undermine the ban’s purpose. A small, targeted, amendment to sections 65(1) and 25(2) will align the licencing regime with the ban’s intent.

Section 65 (Definitions)
Expand “coal-mining operations” to cover tip-recovery:

“winning, working and or otherwise getting coal (whether underground, or in the course of opencast operations, or in the course of obtaining coal deposited as or as part of waste material from coal mining operations)”

1. 1. Section 25(2)(a) (Scope of Licensable Operations)
      Clarify that licensable activities include:
   2. “the winning, working or getting… of any coal (including coal deposited as or as part of waste material from coal mining operations)…”
   3. Section 26 (Restriction on Granting Licences)
      Amend to prohibit the Authority from granting licences for coal-tip recovery, e.g.:
2. “the Authority shall not grant a licence under this Part” for tip extraction.

Ensuring Coverage in Wales

• Section 26A sets a two-step approval for Welsh licences (Authority → Welsh Ministers).
• Preventing the Authority from issuing any tip-extraction licence means the Welsh Ministers’ second-stage approval never arises—thus banning tip recovery UK-wide, including Wales.

Incidental Coal Agreements (ICAs) are a mechanism which already exists – to allow coal to be extracted for safety or remediation purposes. This will still be needed to ensure that the removal of coal for these purposes can continue. Fee bands for ICAs top out at 1,000 tonnes, yet many tip-reclamation schemes propose extracting well over 100 times that amount, undermining any claim that coal removal is merely “incidental.”

Without a clear licensing requirement, millions of tonnes of coal could legally flow from tips across the UK, undermining the licence ban’s aim.

The CCEIC is the first committee scrutinising The Disused Mine and Quarry Tips (Wales) Bill passing through the Senedd, giving it significant scope to shape the Bill at an early stage. CAN successfully persuaded the CCEIC during our oral testimony to make key recommendations to the Welsh Government to improve the Bill in its Stage 1 report:

The Welsh Government should provide further assurance that:

• existing planning legislation, the Welsh Government’s coal policy and Planning Policy Wales are sufficiently robust to ensure that proposals to remediate a disused tip involving coal extraction will not be permissible unless they are for the purpose of ensuring public safety, and
• the Welsh Government’s coal policy will prevent any coal extracted during remediation work from being sold for the purpose of burning

- Stage 1 report.

In our submission, we focused on the consequences today of old coal mines. Whilst we recognise the wealth it generated, much of that was kept by the Directors of mining companies whilst abandoning their restoration responsibilities to host communities. Our 2022 report ‘Coal mine restoration in South Wales’ documents this pattern in Wales’ recent past. We also highlighted the threat of new coal mining under the guise of remediation, as proposed in Bedwas, South Wales.

1. We explained that the cycle of mining companies letting down their host communities is not just a legacy issue, but is also a live issue. We commented on how perverse it would be to rely on profit-driven mining companies to fix the problems caused by those same profit-driven mining companies.
2. We highlighted that not all coal tips should be flattened – with unique and rare ecologies growing up around some of the older coal tips. Many coal tips are also stable and safe now.
3. We called for the UK Government’s coal ban to include ‘remining’ coal tips – as this shares many of the same characteristics as conventional coal mining.
4. We also recommended that the UK Government deliver more dedicated funding on an ongoing basis to the Welsh Government to monitor and remediate historic coal mining sites and tips.