Lead by residents near to Dipton and Leadgate, County Durham, Campaign to Protect Pont Valley was formed in response to Banks Group's 2018 acquisition of mining rights won by the liquidated UK Coal. The community had fought over 30 years to stop UK Coal, and in 2019 teamed up with national and international activists to bring a vibrant and inspiring campaign which mixed direct action with political lobbying and legal challenges.
Email: protectpontvalley@gmail.com
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/protectpontvalley
While the 500,000 tonne Bradley coal extraction site went ahead as planned in 2018, the campaign went on to prevent the extension of the mine, 'West Bradley' in June 2020. The company is not appealling the decision, so the campaign has successfully stopped the spread of opencast coal from Bradley in the Pont Valley.
The local campaign is still active in making sure the company meets it's obligations under the 12 month 'restoration' phase, to ensure the best possible reparation for the damage done to the valley.
The Bradley campaign raised the profile of campaigns against opencast coal mining in the UK, and supported and inspired the still active campaign in Newcastle, Defend Dewley Hill.
The proposed West Cumbria Coal mine lost its planning permission in September 2024. Since then its application to get a full coal mining license was refused by the Coal Authority, another nail in the coffin of the proposed coking coal mine.
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…
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…
The end of coal power in the UK – how we got here, what’s still needed? Smoke filled the sky across the industrial parts of the UK, as coal powered the industrial revolution. First coal brought prosperity and progress, but over decades the smoke stacks…
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…
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…
Victory! The High Court overturns the 2022 planning permission to mine coal at Whitehaven.
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…
We’ve teamed up with our friends at the Good Law Project to obtain expert legal advice, revealing that ERI Ltd’s disastrous proposal to mine two of the Bedwas coal tips is unlikely to get the necessary permissions. If it does, we’re confident we can challenge it…
with love and rage! We in Greener Berwick are showing the film Finite in Berwick Friday 8 December