'Energy Recovery Investments Ltd' is proprosing to extract coal from large coal tips created by the Bedwas Colliery (1913 - 1985) in Bedwas, Caerphilly, South Wales over an operational period of 7 years (but this is often extended later). The company claims that it would use some of the sales of the coal to restore those coal tips afterwards. Based on historical estimates, the total volume of the Tips is approximately 5,000,000m³ which equates to around 8,500,000 tonnes of colliery spoil. The company claims that it expects to haul 468,000 tonnes of coal off the site via 20-tonne heavy goods vehicles (HGVs), driving further climate chaos by over 1.3 MILLION tonnes of CO2.
The Tips are classified as Category D which is defined as “A tip with the potential to impact public safety, to be inspected at least twice a year.”. The main risks associated with Bedwas are understood to be risk of tip fire and contamination of local watercourses (including Rhymney River), with land stability being of a lesser concern.
'Energy Recovery Investments Ltd' has not disclosed what proportions of coal will be sold to which market but does indicate "ERI’s proposal is to sell on these stockpiles of coal to heavy industry, the cement manufacturing industry and potentially energy production industry...", and elsewhere cite the steel sector and brickworks as potential customers.
The company would need to build a new section of haul road 575m long and 6m wide cut into the rock, and widen the existing forest track - possibly at the loss of trees bordering the road. It would involve works on setting up the site starting at 6am and continuing into the night until 10pm (16 hours/day, 15 hours every Saturday, and only Sunday without works) for 6-9 months (but this is likely to be extended, as is common for projects like this). Outside of these hours, maintanence works could still occur, according to the company. The company estimates an average of 90 hauls by HGVs per week to occur over the seven years operational period. This is equivalent approximately to 18-20 hauls HGVs going to and from the site every day.
The coal tips lie above a coal seam, which the company claims it would coincidentally have to dig into to create 'lagoons' for processing the coal from the coal tips. That's right, Energy Recovery Investments Ltd claims it needs to mine the coal in the seam, creating a further coal tip, in order to mine the coal in the coal tips already created. The company is trying to rebrand the coal mined from the tips and from digging the lagoons, as 'reclaimed' and 'incidental' coal respectively, in an attempt to get around Welsh Government policies against further coal extraction.
Energy Recovery Investments Ltd creates a new name for the coal it proposes to mine: "Reduced Carbon Coal" - a name based on the claim it could displace coal imported with the associated travel miles. This is an old argument that has been debunked many times. See our video with Economics expert, Prof. Paul Ekins or our myth-buster.
The company is so keen to distance this project from a coal mine, it has gone into greenwash overdrive - refusing to even call a coal washery by its normal name, and instead rebranding it as a "beneficiation/processing plant.
With absolutely no evidence or calculations, Energy Recovery Investments Ltd makes the outlandish claim in its planning statement that any, eventual and additional, 'carbon sink' like properties of the site after operations have finally ceased may offset the processing and extraction of the coal, transport by deisel HGVs, and end use.
Energy Recovery Investments Ltd presents the mining of coal as "a beneficial by-product of the tip reclamation process". It's the very objective of this company to generate a profit for itself from the mining of the coal tips - it is very far from being a by-product.
Energy Recovery Investments Ltd claims that a proportion of its coal will be used at steelworks, necessary for green infrastructure - a common argument which is even less true today than it was previously, as both virgin steelworks in the UK converts to using processes for producing steel from scrap that doesn't rely on coal inputs, ending the UK steel market for coal.
Energy Recovery Investments Ltd is a small company with assets valued at £114,000 in its 2022 annual financial accounts on Companies House – but only £9,000 cash assets. This is concerning as there would be limited scope to recover damages if mistakes are made or the company refuses to remediate the coal tips after extracting profitable coal from them.
The company was registered in 2008 and “the principle activity of the company is the recovery of coal from redundant coal tip sites”. But since 2012, the company has idled with zero staff until employing just 2 staff a decade later in 2022. Energy Recovery Investments Ltd has only operated one other site, in 2008, Six Bells and Vivien Tips near Abertillery, South Wales - which it extracted 260,000 tonnes of coal from over 2.5 years, by subsequently getting permission to opencast coal mine one end of the site.
Despite all its efforts to distance itself from coal mining, Energybuild Ltd (the coal mining company at Aberpergwm) has previously been a major shareholder in Energy Recovery Investments Ltd.
ERI Ltd is the wholly owned subsidiary of PPM Holdings Limited, a company incorporated in just 2022 with no published company accounts and currently registered as a ‘non-trading company’. The current Director of PPM Holdings Limited, Sian Thomas, was previously Director of Green Steel Works Ltd, which deals with ‘Remediation activities and other waste management services’ and is the official office address for Energy Recovery Investments Ltd. This kind of complicated and confusing corporate structure is typical of mining companies, and has been used in the past to evade corporate accountability. The other Director of PPM Holdings Limited is Mark Harvey, is a Director of 6 companies dealing with mineral waste disposal and storage, and real estate.
This proposal has strong similarities with the sprawling Ffos-y-fran opencast coal mine. The sale of the coal from this mine was to pay for the restoration of a neglected hill in Merthyr Tydfil to the extent the coal mine was even branded as the "Ffos Y Fran Land Reclamation Scheme". Yet, the profits from 16 years of coal mining has been put of reach, and the local Council faces up to £120 million shortfall to pay for the much greater restoration works now needed. We don't want Bedwas to become the next Ffos-y-fran disaster.
With over 300 at-risk coal tips registered across South Wales, and financial shortcomings to pay for their remediation, the concern is that the Bedwas coal tip is a testing ground for remediating the remaining coal tips. This would be disasterous for our climate and represent total contempt for the Wellbeing of Future Generations Act. The company has presented a planning statement littered with the tired justifications of mining companies. Stay tuned as we ask for your help in this campaign.
The Crown Prosecution Service has dropped all charges against the four Extinction Rebellion (XR) activists who blockaded the entrance to the UK’s largest open-cast coal mine, last summer with a pink boat.
While removing the immediate burden of legal confrontation for the defendants, the decision has left a “crater of unfinished business” in the fight for climate justice and accountability for local residents..
“The action was always designed to have a much deeper impact beyond the immediate disruption with a pink boat,” explained Liz Pendleton, one of the four defendants who occupied the site for over 24 hours in July 2023. “It was designed to expose the alleged illegal activities and environmental negligence of the mining operation, in particular, its continued operation beyond permitted planning conditions and contradictory and misleading financial statements which may well constitute fraud.”
The Ffos-Y-Fran mine in Merthyr Tydfil, Wales had been operating without a licence for almost ten months when XR activists took direct action.
“By denying us our day in court the CPS has denied us the opportunity to shine a light on this potentially illegal and criminal operation,” said Liz.
The legal proceedings revealed a shocking lack of cooperation from the mine, including failure to provide basic operational logs, communications between the mine and governmental bodies, and internal documents relating to the financial and environmental management of the mine's operations. This critical information would have shed light on the legal position of the operation and whether funds had been set aside for environmental restoration - which was a condition for the getting the go ahead in the face of overwhelming local opposition. The defendants were also confident this would have led to their acquittal.
The dropping of the case also casts doubt on the legitimacy of the arrests, as in the case of aggravated trespass the police can clearly be seen acting in the interests of corporate bodies who then fail to prove that they themselves were carrying out lawful activities.
The discontinuation of charges is a testament to the strength of the activists case and the shaky foundation upon which the mine's operations stood, explained Raj Chada from Hodge Jones & Allen, representing the defendants:
“In seeking disclosure from the CPS, we highlighted the need for transparency on several critical points. Our requests were aimed at uncovering potential evidence of the mine operating beyond legal scrutiny, which raises concerns about the legality of its operations. The CPS's inability to meet these disclosure obligations casts a shadow over the proceedings and suggests that the depth of the mine's legal and environmental mismanagement may be greater than previously understood.”
For over a decade and a half, the Ffos-Y-Fran mine has been a symbol of the environmental and social challenges that face communities at the ‘coal face’ of climate degradation. The abrupt end to this case marks not a clear-cut victory but a complex milestone in the ongoing struggle. While it spares the defendants the strain of a continuing court battle - already exceeding seven months in duration - it denies the platform to publicly expose the depth of negligence and alleged fraud by the mine's operators, Merthyr (South Wales) Ltd., including their failure to fulfil obligations towards land reparations and the creation of green jobs.
Speaking upon hearing the news, local resident and defendant Marcus Bailie commented: “Our fight was not just against the physical act of coal extraction but against disregard for the land's future and the community's well-being. The piles of coal and the colossal scar on the landscape left behind serve as stark reminders of the environmental impact that has yet to be addressed. The real victory would have been to hold those responsible to account in a public forum, forcing a reckoning with the consequences of their actions.” Marcus went on to say, “We’re not the criminals here!”
Chris and Alyson Austin, residents of Merthyr Tydfil who have been campaigning for years for the mine to be closed said: “We feel angry and betrayed about the waste-land they have left behind.”
The bittersweet outcome underscores the resilience and dedication of activists and the broader environmental movement. It also highlights the complexities of seeking justice in a system where procedural technicalities can overshadow substantive issues. The fight for the Ffos-Y-Fran mine was never just about legal vindication; it was about bringing to light the injustices inflicted upon nature and communities - and campaigners promise, it won’t end here.
For further information, quotes, or to arrange interviews, please contact: press@extinctionrebellion.uk | +44(0)7756136396
Citing different grounds to the High Court, the Court of Appeal has nevertheless found against our appeal. The Court of Appeal judges disagreed with the judge in the High Court, and decided that current statute limits Welsh Ministers to only deciding whether a new conditional licence may be issued—rather than deciding at the stage that a conditional licence is turned into a full licence, which is what allows coal mining to begin. This judgement is disappointing, and runs contrary to the careful analysis of the High Court judge and the position expressed by the Coal Authority and the UK Government. We think there are grounds for a potential challenge to the judgement and we are receiving advice from our legal team on our next actions.
On 23 October 2023, over 30 Wales-based NGOs, businesses, and community groups signed an open letter to Wales’ Climate Change Minister, Julie James, calling for the Welsh Government to ban coal mining once and for all (sent by Climate Cymru). On 10th January 2024, Julie James wrote back—but claims a ban isn’t needed, even though 1.6 million tonnes of CO2 could have been prevented since 2022 if the Welsh Government had adopted a ban. That failure has caused 362 additional deaths from climate change related causes. Julie James’ claims just don’t stack up against those lives lost. Here’s why:
The open letter to Julie James highlighted that an issue with the current policy is that it is riddled with caveats and exceptions. Carmarthenshire County Council’s Planning Officer even wrote in September 2023 that it was “difficult to know for certain how to interpret the coal policy”. Julie James failed to respond to this point entirely. A clear ban would remove the existing ambiguity that makes the current policy challenging to apply.
Julie James also did not respond to our point that Merthyr (South Wales) Ltd would not have been able to mine 500,000 tonnes of coal from Ffos-y-fran over the past 1.5 years if there was a clear ban on coal mining. The mining company exploited the exceptions in existing policies to secure a de facto extension. To protect against this climate assault recurring by closing the loopholes, a clear coal ban is needed now.
In the open letter to Julie James, it’s stated “A coal mine ban can be drafted is such a way that allows for the safe winding down of existing coal mines, and Coal Authority access to fulfil its regulatory duties”. That didn’t stop Julie James trying to use that against a ban anyway: “we also have a duty to manage the safe closure and restoration of existing and historic mining infrastructure”. Julie James accompanies this with a reason that’s even more bizarre: “The incidental extraction of limited coal may also be required during the construction of infrastructure projects”. Those wouldn’t be coal mines so wouldn’t fall under a ban—the Coal Authority even licences this differently as an ‘incidental coal agreement’. The burden and hazards of historic mines across Wales would diminish under a coal ban, rather than risk being added to—a very real risk in light of Ffos-y-fran.
Julie James says “…coal licences may be needed in wholly exceptional circumstances and each application will be decided on its own merits”. But this creates exactly the problem that Julie James lamented in her letter in October 2011 to then Minister for BEIS Kwasi Kwarteng: "both the developer and the Coal Authority committing significant resources respectively to preparing and determining applications... before Welsh policy can properly be applied”. A coal ban would end the pipeline of applications, and the private and public funds they waste.
Julie James twice hails “the presumption being against extraction” in current policies. We hope it’s not presumptuous to argue for a commitment stronger than a ‘presumption’ in the face of catastrophic climate change. What justification could opening a new coal mine have in the face of the 362 lives that’ll be cut short due to the Welsh Government’s refusal to ban coal mines up until now? Climate vandalism over the past year shows nothing short of a ban on coal mining can protect the lives and ecosystems at stake.
Finally, Julie James concludes her letter by claiming the “Welsh Government has adopted and implemented the strongest policy opposition to coal extraction across the UK Governments”. Even if that were true, the Welsh Government clearly needs to go further given current policies have failed to prevent 1.6 million tonnes of avoidable CO2 in the past 1.5 years. But it’s also not true. Julie James’ claim to be leading on a progressive coal policy is based on her comparison to a similar one set out in the Scottish Parliament back in November 2021. She ignores the de facto ban that the Scottish Government more recently introduced in October 2022—as referenced in the open letter to Julie James. If Julie James actually wants the Welsh Government to boast the strongest policy opposition to coal mining, she’ll have to be bolder by committing to a ban on coal mining in Wales.
2014 Company directors buy Riverside Energy and change the name to West Cumbria Mining Ltd ( West Cumbria Mining Ltd).
2015 Cumbria County Council and West Cumbria Mining Ltd hold internal discussions.
2016 Environmental Impact Assessment Scoping Report is finalised.
2017 Initial planning application is submitted.
2017 September. First demonstration against the coal mine - organised by Radiation Free Lakeland
2018 Major changes to the application are made and a new Environmental Statement submitted.
2019 March. Cumbria County Council planning committee holds hearing for the Whitehaven coal mine application, and approves it “subject to S106 legal agreement".
2019 April. Call in Request to Rt Hon James Brokenshire Secretary of State from Keep Cumbrian Coal in the Hole (a Radiation Free Lakeland campaign) around potential nuclear impacts of the proposal.
2019 June. A call-in request by SLACC is refused by Secretary of State (Secretary of State).
2019 October. Cumbria County Council planning committee holds second hearing and again approves the Whitehaven coal mine application “subject to S106 legal agreement".
2019 Judicial review launched by Leigh Day solicitors on behalf of Radiation Free Lakeland.
2020 May. Cumbria County Council planning committee sets aside (withdraws) previous “consent subject to S106”.
2020 June. West Cumbria Mining Ltd submits revised application (claiming to no longer mine and sell the high sulphur “middlings” coal in the area).
2020 October. Cumbria County Council planning committee holds third hearing for the Whitehaven coal mine application, and again approves it “approval subject to S106 legal agreement".
2021 January. SLACC issue second request for the Secretary of State to call-in West Cumbria Mining Ltd’s application.
2021 February. Cumbria County Council suspended approval decision because Climate Change Committee recommended the end of coking coal use by 2035.
2021 February. CAN petition with 110,000+ signatures is submitted to the UK Government for the Secretary of State to call in the mining application.
2021 March. SLACC launches judicial review against the Secretary of State’s failure to call in West Cumbria Mining Ltd’s application.
2021 March. West Cumbria Mining Ltd launches judicial review against Cumbria County Council and in opposition to SLACC’s judicial review of the Secretary of State.
2021 Secretary of State finally agrees to call in West Cumbria Mining Ltd’s application and to hold a Public Inquiry into it.
2021 September. 11 groups commit to taking direct action to stop the West Cumbria coal mine if government approves it.
2021 September. West Cumbria Mining Ltd make major change just ahead of Public Inquiry - tunnelling under the ancient woodlands.
2021 September. Public Inquiry is held.
2021 September. On the first day of the Public Inquiry, around 70 people gather outside the site of the prospective Whitehaven coal mine, and outside the Secretary of State’s office, Ministry of Housing, Communities, and Local Government.
2022 December. Michael Gove publishes decision to grant planning permission to the Whitehaven coal mine.
2022 December. Twitter storm erupts with the message “We reject the Whitehaven coal mine, #StopCoal @luhc @CoalActionUK”.
2022 December. Protests at the site and in other parts of Cumbria against the approval. At the site they continue monthly throughout 2023.
2022 December. 5 Santas deliver sacks of dirty ‘coal’ to the Secretary of State at the Department of Levelling Up, Housing, and Communities as he is on the (very) naughty list for approving the Whitehaven coal mine.
2023 Jan. SLACC and FOE request permission to legally challenge the Secretary of State’s decision in a Statutory Review.
2023 April. High Court refuse permission to appeal.
2023 April. FOE and SLACC apply for ‘Renewal’—similar to an appeal, which is granted.
2023 May. Legal challenges against the governmental decision are approved for SLACC and Friends of the Earth for a combined hearing. Originally due to be heard in October 2023, but delayed to await the outcome of a linked case, relating to oil extraction in Surrey.
2023 August. 25 large banners opposing the proposed new coal mine near Whitehaven with the words ‘NO TIME for a COAL MINE’ were unveiled along all the roads entering Cumbria on the same day.
2023 August. Earth First! Gathering occupied the site of the proposed Whitehaven coal mine for 5 days, with around 150 attendees, ran workshops on all things environmental and engaged with many local residents over the days.
2023 September. Global Day of Action against Fossil Fuels includes demonstrations against Lloyds of London Insurance companies which fail to rule out insuring the project.
2023 November. Protests at Mines and Money Conference in London over 2 days. We demanded that investors stop pouring cash into the mining sector, and instead invest in our collective future.
2024 July. The Government has accepted that there was an error of law in the decision to grant planning permission for a new coal mine in Cumbria - and will no longer be defending the claims.
2024 September. The Judge over turned the previous Government's decision to allow the mine. There is no planning permission valid for this application.
2024 July. High Court heard 5 reasons why the Conservative Government's December 2022 approval of the proposed mine was flawed, and the court was asked to make the government re-decide. Protests were held in Whitehaven and London supporting the court case.
Port Talbot Steelworks in South Wales is the largest producer of virgin steel in the UK. Along with British Steel steelworks in Scunthorpe, Port Talbot steelworks is expected to shut down its blast furnaces in 2024 and build a 3 million tonne (MT) electric arc furnace (EAF) to recycle scrap steel. This is a measure to reduce the steelworks CO2 footprint by cutting out coal used in traditional blast furnaces in virgin steelmaking.
In ‘A workers’ plan for Port Talbot’, the UNITE workers’ union points out “The government's current proposal is to give a handout to Tata [Port Talbot Steelworks], without asking for any conditions to protect jobs.” On 15th September 2023, this handout was confirmed at £500 million with expected job losses up to 3,000. The deal was reached without meaningful union or worker involvement, despite those workers facing the biggest upheaval at the steelworks.
We share the Unite union’s conviction that the low-carbon transition at Port Talbot Steelworks can, and must, be a just transition. In its workers’ plan, Unite point out that only 60% of UK steel demand is met by domestic production, and that the UK imports 10 out of 17 main steel products. By 2035 demand for green steel could rise as high as 19.4MT, according to Unite. In 2022, the UK produced 6MT of steel. These figures underpin Unite’s case for expanding EAFs at Port Talbot to 6MT-9MT, beyond the current conversion plans of a 3MT EAF.
Unite’s proposed expansion—together with scrap steel processing jobs to improve scrap input quality—would retain, or increase, jobs at the site of Port Talbot steelworks. Unite states that diverting the amount of scrap the UK exports each year would provide sufficient quantities of scrap steel to expand the EAF capacity for Britain’s green steel sector.
Beyond EAFs, Unite is pushing the UK Government to invest in, and develop, emerging technologies like Hydrogen Direct Reduced Iron (HDRI) to produce virgin steel. The large amounts of electricity needed to support that could, according to Unite, be produced sustainably by constructing a floating windfarm just off the coast of Port Talbot, which it claims has suitable topography. This could safeguard more jobs and contribute to reducing the carbon footprint of other carbon intensive industries, such as cement and ammonia production.
Unite estimates that HDRI roll-out would require a public investment of around £1 billion per year over the next 12 years. That may sound like a lot but, in total, that amounts to a billion less than the widely derided Test and Trace app cost in its first year alone.
CAN advocates for a variety of strategies to meet UK steel demand into the future, including efficiency, recycling, technology, and more selective production. But where there remains a demand gap, production should be coal-free and utilise a circular economy based on safer, desirable, and dignified jobs within the UK. We also believe it’s vital that the impacts of steel production are not just considered at the point where iron or scrap arrives at steelworks.
Upstream extractive industries and scrap steel sorting and processing underpin, and are impacted by, changes at steelworks. The environmental and economic consequences for these upstream sectors means mine workers and community members living on the frontlines of iron and coal extraction, and the consequences of climate change, also need to be part of the conversation, as stakeholders, for a truly just transition.
CAN agrees with the Unite union on the following demands:
Published: 18. 12. 2023
We're not celebrating the purported end of coal mining at Ffos-y-fran in Merthyr Tydfil, South Wales today. Because the abject failure of Merthyr County Borough Council to stop the past 15 months of illegal coal mining at Ffos-y-fran has resulted in:
The Welsh Government, rather than stepping in to issue a stop notice to prevent the illegal coal mining, even transported the illegal along rail lines owned by the Welsh Government to customers...and continue to do so. The coal company has amassed a huge stockpile of coal at the rail terminal to continue selling off after 30th November - largely made possible by the Welsh Goverment's rail lines.
The Welsh Government's policies against coal mining are obviously not strong enough - why won't the Welsh Government take its place next to Scotland in issuing a clear ban on coal mining?
There are around 150 workers at Ffos-y-fran who face redundancy today. Merthyr (South Wales) Ltd has let workers down. The company had many years of knowing when planning permission expired, and to retrain and support workers to find work in more sustainable industries for when that happens... but hasn't. To add insult to this injury, the company further let workers down by refusing to pay for the restoration that it's legally obliged to, and which would have provided many workers with years of work to come on site, in the green sector of nature restoration.
The final restoration plan promised to local residents since 2007 now hangs in the balance as the mining company makes off with bumper profits from both legal and illegal coal mining, but refuses to meet its obligation to pay for the restoration. It's siphoned MILLIONS of pounds of profits into related companies, and neither the Council nor the Welsh Government seems intent to challenge that. Local residents and the Welsh Government's own report warned the Welsh Government and Local Council nearly a decade ago of this exact risk - why wasn't that acted on? Sign our petition to demand the Welsh Government commits to delivering:
We obtained a letter from the Coal Authority to the Merthyr Tydfil County Borough Council, in which the Chief Executive of the Coal Authority is scathingly critical of inaction within the Council and their handling of Ffos-y-fran. The Council must be held to account for its failings.
Extinction Rebellion Cymru protestors blockaded Ffos-y-fran illegal operation for over 24 hours - which is 24 hours longer than Merthyr County Borough Council managed to. Despite the illegal activities of Merthyr (South Wales) Ltd, its owner David Lewis has been left untouched. On the other hand, XR protestors were arrested, held in police cells, and have court hearings about for preventing illegal coal mining. Please donate to their legal fees crowdfunder against this gross injustice.
People hailing from Cumbria to London, and everywhere in between, descended on the Mines and Money Conference in London across two days (28th-29th Nov 2023). We demanded that investors stop pouring cash into the mining sector, and instead invest in our collective future. Together with Fossil Free London and other groups, we greeted investors with flyers highlighting risks to investments in mining that mining companies want to hide—such as successful grassroots resistance to mining projects around the world.
We also heard on the grapevine that EMR Capital PTY, the ultimate owner of the proposed West Cumbria coal mine (WCM), was attending in the desperate hope of raising the £230 million still needed to start the WCM. So local campaigners from Cumbria came all the way to London to deliver a message to potential investors in WCM—steer clear! To further ruin EMR Capital PTY’s plans, they also handed investors a risk assessment, provided by BankTrack, outlining risks specific to the proposed WCM proposal. Two other coal mining companies were present at the conference too.
There’s many alternatives we must take instead of clawing the ground up to reach the minerals beneath, and that is where investment is needed. For example, we need:
This would truly be ‘resourcing tomorrow’—the strapline for this year’s Money & Mining conference. Instead, the conference encourages investment in the rush for remaining minerals, fuelling human rights abuses, land grabs, destruction of local eco-systems, and climate change.
We call out the host of this disastrous conference, the Business Design Centre, which boasts its ethical ‘B-Corp’ status. You might want to raise your concerns with the certifying body about giving these hosts any kind of ethical certification (certification@bcorporation.uk), pointing out that at least three fossil fuel companies advertising coal mines and oil production were touting for investment at the conference (BHP, ADX Energy, and Teck).
01 September 2022: Merthyr (South Wales) Ltd applies for a S.73 time extension to mine coal from Ffos-y-fran, and to accordingly delay and vary restoration works.
06 September 2022: Planning permission ends for coal mining at the Ffos-y-fran site, after 15 years and 3 months of operations.
12 September 2022: first reports to Merthyr Tydfil County Borough Council (MTCBC) have been made by local residents of coaling beyond the end of planning permission.
13 September 2022: Local residents submit letters of objection to the Ffos-y-fran extension application.
20 September 2022: CAN submits a letter of objection to the Ffos-y-fran extension application.
27 September 2022: Local residents were supplied with a statement from the Local Planning Authority via their Assembly Member stating; '“If coal mining operations continue on site, this would result in a breach of the planning conditions and may be subject to enforcement action. At this stage because a planning application has been submitted, which seeks to amend to the current permission and enable operations to continue on site, it would not normally be expedient to take enforcement action until that application has been determined…”.
14 October 2022: Local Residents apply to the Planning Directorate (Wales) asking them to 'call-in' the planning application for it to be determined by the Welsh Government
23 October 2022: CAN launches a 38 Degrees petition for Welsh Ministers to call in and reject the application to extend Ffos-y-fran.
12 January 2023: two local residents hand-deliver petition with over 20,000 signatures to the Welsh Government to call in and reject the application to extend Ffos-y-fran.
12 January 2023: CAN emails the head of planning at Merthyr Tydfil County Borough Council for confirmation whether coal mining is—or has been—occurring at Ffos-y-fran beyond the end of planning permission. The Case Officer responds on 20th January as below.
19 January 2023: CAN contacts MS Dawn Bowden to alert her to the suspected planning infringement within her constituency. The Office of MS Dawn Bowden responds that they will seek an update from the Local Planning Authority regarding the site and current activities.
20 January 2023: Merthyr Tydfil County Borough Council‘s Principle Planning Officer responds that “It is my understanding that coaling mining has presently ceased on site, pending the outcome of the current planning application”. This understanding was formed based on an update provided by the mining company rather than any kind of inspection or investigation, and did not answer whether coaling has occurred at any point since the end of planning permission.
23 January 2023: Merthyr Tydfil County Borough Council Planning Councillors and Local Planning Authority staff are invited to a webinar on restoration issues from coal mining in South Wales, featuring Ffos-y-fran in Merthyr Tydfil. Every Council we invited participated in the webinar apart from Merthyr Tydfil County Borough Council.
27 January 2023: FOE’s Planning Specialist submitted a screening direction request to Merthyr Tydfil County Borough Council, challenging the Planning Officer’s assessment that a new Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) was not needed for the extension application despite the fact that the last EIA is over 15 years old.
30 January 2023: CAN shares Production and Manpower Statistics from The UK Coal Authority spanning the last 6 months of 2022, indicating coal mining at Ffos-y-fran has continued unabated at the site beyond planning permission.
02 February 2023: Merthyr Tydfil County Borough Council‘s Principle Planning Officer confirms they were unaware of these statistics and would need to investigate them further - “I can then determine whether the matter should be escalated with our enforcement team and what suitable course of action should be taken, pending the outcome of the current planning application”. The Planning Officer reiterated that based on conversations with the mining company, “activity taking place on site, largely [emphasis added] relate to the slippage that occurred in August 2022”.
06 February 2023: CAN requests an update from the Merthyr Tydfil County Borough Council‘s Principle Planning Officer’s review of the UK Coal Authority’s statistics indicating ongoing coal mining at Ffos-y-fran. No answer was given.
16 February 2023: MS Dawn Bowden’s office shares with us part of Merthyr Tydfil County Borough Council Local Planning Authority response to their request for an update “At present we are of the view that the works taking place on site largely relates to the slippage and incorporates some restoration works. Should this situation change it would be necessary for us to consider whether a breach in the planning conditions has taken place and whether it would then be expedient to take enforcement action pending the determination of the current application”. This indicates the Local Planning Authority still has not carried out any investigation, and would only consider enforcement after the determination of the extension application.
03 March 2023: Richard Buxton Solicitors, instructed by CAN, email Welsh Ministers and Enforcement at Merthyr Tydfil County Borough Council requesting immediate enforcement action is taken at Ffos-y-fran to stop the apparent ongoing breach of planning control.
09 March 2023: A Merthyr Tydfil County Borough Council solicitor answers that “The Council does not consider that it would be a productive use of its officers’ time to provide a detailed response at present to the matters raised in the letter”. The response also reveals that the extension application is due to be considered on 26 April 2023, only after which any issues related to enforcement will be considered. This effectively affords the coal company a de facto, circa 8 month extension—just one month less than what it applied for, and without any democratic process, procedure, or regulatory oversight.
13 March 2023: Richard Buxton Solicitors write to the Welsh Ministers regarding the serious breach of planning control and the Local Planning Authority’s inadequate action to stop it, despite consequences to national-level climate commitments. A response is requested by 20 March 2023.
21 March 2023: Richard Buxton Solicitors write to the Welsh Ministers following up on the missed response deadline. No reply was offered by Welsh Ministers or any representative of the Welsh Government.
18 April: The Coal Authority fail to provide the first quarter of 2023 national coal mining statistics. Statistics for 2022 were used to prove Ffos-y-fran continued coal mining. The Coal Authority weeks later provide only national-level statistics from which it is not possible to isolate what coal is being mined at Ffos-y-fran. The Coal Authority state it will provide the usual break-down but as of 24 May 2023, has not done so.
26 April 2023: Merthyr Tydfil County Borough Council Councillors unanimously reject the application to extend the Ffos-y-fran coal mine.
02 May 2023: Merthyr Tydfil County Borough Council rejects demands that it takes immediate enforcement action via a Temproary Stop Notice in light of the Councillors' rejection of the extension.
04 May 2023: Merthyr Tydfil County Borough Council case officer admits to witnesses coal trucks continuing to leave the Ffos-y-fran coal mine.
08 May - 12 May 2023: Merthyr Tydfil County Borough Council receives over 7000 emails demanding it stops nearly 1,000 tonnes of coal leaving the mine every day with a Temporary Stop Notice. Merthyr Tydfil County Borough Council fails to respond.
10 - 12 May 2023: MS Julie James (Minister for Climate Change) and MS Lee Waters (Deputy Minister for Climate Change) receive over 2,000 emails demand they exercise power 182 of the TCPA to intervene and put a stop to this coal mine, given the Merthyr Tydfil County Borough Council's continuing failure to for over 8 months.
16 May 2023: After communication with CAN, MS Delyth Jewell questions the Welsh Government on its inaction over Ffos-y-fran. MS Lesley Griffiths responds that there doesn't appear to be evidence of continued coal mining, but instead just of coal leaving the site.
19 May 2023: Drone footage seems to evidence the mining and transport of coal to be filtered inside Ffos-y-fran coal mine.
23 June 2023: Coal Action Network obtains an open letter legal opinion from James Maurici (KC) of Landmark Chambers and Toby Fisher of Matrix Chambers, advising amongst other things, that the Welsh Government or Merthyr Tydfil County Borough Council should issue a stop notice to prevent the ongoing illegal coal mining at Ffos-y-fran.
23 August 2023: Together with Good Law Project, we instruct Richard Buxton Solicitors - specialists in planning and environmental law - to initiate judicial review proceedings against the Welsh Government and Merthyr Tydfil County Borough Council for failing to stop the ongoing illegal coal mining.
23 October 2023: A group of over 30 Wales-based NGOs and businesses sign on to a letter to Climate Change Minister Julie James MS and Deputy Climate Change Minister Lee Waters MS demanding the Welsh Government ban coal mining on Welsh soil to avoid another Ffosy-y-fran opencast disaster.
November 2023: Merthyr Tydfil County Borough Council and Merthyr (South Wales) Ltd claim that active coal mining ceased by the end of November. Yet the company continues selling large quantities of coal into 2024, and despite purporting not to be mining in December, produces somewhat more coal in the final quarter of 2023 compared to the same quarter in 2022.
February 2024: XR activists who blockaded coal leaving the Ffos-y-fran site had charges against them dropped as the mining company refused to hand over essential evidence about its finances and conduct to the defence barrister.
March 2024: CAN operated a drone that captured for the first time the flooding void, revealing that the mining company had quietly removed its pumps that were operating for almost the whole life of the mining works, allowing the void to fill with water - presumably to make it impractical to return the overburden mounds to the void it had created, in a further act of betrayal to the communities of Merthyr Tydfil. Despite being a further breach of its contractual restoration plan, Merthyr Tydfil County Borough Council said it was aware but doing nothing to prevent it.
April 2024: CAN, and other groups, were called on to give oral evidence to the Welsh Senedd Climate Change, Energy, and Infrastructure Committee (CCEIC) about the handling of the Ffos-y-fran opencast coal mine debacle. Merthyr Tydfil County Borough Council initially refused but, following severe criticism from the Committee, eventually acquiesced and blamed old staff and the company. Merthyr (South Wales) Ltd refused to attend.
May 2024: so overdue that the company was threatened with being struck off the company register, Merthyr (South Wales) Ltd eventually published it's accounts up until the end of 2022. This indicated the company was making record-breaking profits and had accounted for inflated restoration costs which it had set money aside to pay for.
Over 30 Welsh NGOs and businesses have signed a letter to Welsh Minister Julie James and Deputy Minister Lee Waters, demanding they draw a line in the sand and announce ban on any further coal mines on Welsh soil. The letter was sent to the Welsh Government on 11th October 2023.
The Welsh Government already has policies against new and extended coal mines but these are caveated and confusing. The renewed call for a clear coal mining ban comes less than a month after existing policies would have failed to stop a recent bid to reopen the shuttered Glan Lash opencast coal mine in Carmarthenshire. The coal mining company, Bryn Bach Coal Ltd, applied to double the size of the coal mine over six years. Controversially, Carmarthenshire County Council’s Planning Officer advised Councillors in the Officer’s Report, and at the Planning Hearing, that "Overall, it is considered that the proposals would largely meet the criteria of the coal policy" (p66). Ultimately, the application was rejected on the grounds of local ecological impacts—but it has exposed the weakness of existing policies, with the Planning Officer adding that it is “difficult to know for certain how to interpret the coal policy” (p66).
The open letter coincides with the first anniversary of Scotland’s announcement of its own de facto ban on coal mining, in October 2022. Daniel Therkelsen, campaigner at Coal Action Network says “The Welsh Government faces a choice—align itself with the backtracking and flip-flopping of the UK Government, or regain its international leadership position alongside Scotland, as a progressive country of confidence and stability for green industry to thrive.
Welsh Minister for Climate Change, Julie James, wrote a letter to the UK Government in October 2021, lamenting the current policy situation, which “results in both the developer and the Coal Authority committing significant resources respectively to preparing and determining applications”. NGOs and businesses that signed the open letter to Ministers Julie James and Deputy Minister Lee Waters are calling for a clear coal ban that clears up the confusion Carmarthenshire Council identified and the caveats that creates uncertainty and potentially wasted resources for coal mining companies, such as Merthyr (South Wales) Ltd, which also applied for an extension in September last year but was conversely rejected due to the Welsh Government’s coal policies by Merthyr Tydfil County Borough Council.
Daniel Therkelsen, Campaigner, Coal Action Network: “The Welsh Government has said their position is ‘clear’, that ‘they want to bring a managed end to the extraction and use of coal’—but their jigsaw of policies on coal is as clear as the coal dust that continues to plague communities living around mines in South Wales, ban new coal mines and extensions and be done with it. Nothing about a ban would prevent access by the Coal Authority to address safety issues.”.
Overview and key facts on Glan Lash opencast coal mine extension application. The extension application was to extract a further 95,038 tonnes of coal (more than the original coal mine, licenced for just 92,500 tonnes).
Key Welsh Government policies relating to coal extraction include:
Planning Policy Wales (Edition 11) s.5.10.14 “Proposals for opencast, deep-mine development or colliery spoil disposal should not be permitted. Should, in wholly exceptional circumstances, proposals be put forward they would clearly need to demonstrate why they are needed in the context of climate change emissions reductions targets and for reasons of national energy security.”
Minerals Technical Advice Note 2: Coal “Government policies and planning guidance on the provision of coal have previously been set out in Mineral Planning Guidance Note 3 (MPG3) published in 1994 for England and Wales. MPG 3 (1994), apart from the Annexes, was cancelled by MPPW. This MTAN supersedes the 1994 Annexes, which are hereby cancelled… This coal MTAN sets out how impacts should be assessed and what mitigation measures should be adopted, and seeks to identify the environmental and social costs of coal operations so that they are properly met by the operator.”
Coal policy statement, 22 March 2021: “The opening of new coal mines or the extension of existing coaling operations in Wales would add to the global supply of coal, having a significant effect on Wales’ and the UK’s legally binding carbon budgets as well as international efforts to limit the impact of climate change. Therefore, Welsh Ministers do not intend to authorise new Coal Authority mining operation licences or variations to existing licences. Coal licences may be needed in wholly exceptional circumstances and each application will be decided on its own merits, but the presumption will always be against coal extraction.”
Published: 10.10.2023
