Based on the most recently available official statistics from The Coal Authority, since planning permission ended, by the end of May 2023, nearly 300,000 tonnes of coal would have been mined without any attempt to stop it, at the climate cost of almost a MILLION tonnes of CO2. At a rate of over 1,000 tonnes each day, every day this goes on for, matters. Every day this illegal coal operation continues, produces the CO2 equivalent of burning 1.5 MILLION litres of petrol.

Planning permission for the Ffos-y-fran coal mine ended on 06 September 2022. Not only does that mean the mining company, Merthyr (South Wales) Ltd, is in breach of planning control, it also means that it has no licence, as the Coal Authority require, as a condition of that licence, that the company has active planning permission to mine the coal – something that Merthyr (South Wales) Ltd hasn’t had for months.

The local council (Merthyr Tydfil County Borough Council) refused calls by local residents to take enforcement action for 7 months because it claimed Merthyr (South Wales) Ltd was not mining coal at Ffos-y-fran, but was forced by Coal Action Network to eventually admit that actually, yes, coal mining had been happening.

Then the council refused to enforce the stop of illegal coal mining until after the application to extend Ffos-y-fran had been decided by Councillors on 26^th April 2023, which is not unusual practice within planning… but given the irreversible, daily harm occurring at Ffos-y-fran, enforcement action should have been taken.

A month after the unanimous rejection of the Ffos-y-fran extension application by Councillors, no enforcement action has been taken.  The most recent reason given by the council is that they are ‘investigating’ and are trying to ‘hold meetings’ with Merthyr (South Wales) Ltd… all the while, the company nears the 9 month extension it originally applied for in illegal coal mining.

The Welsh Government has said that it wouldn’t intervene in Ffos-y-fran until the council decides whether it’ll take enforcement action or not. But the problem with this approach is that the council has already stalled, and failed to take expedient enforcement action to stop the ongoing coal mining. This inaction has so far resulted in 270,000 tonnes of coal, adding 840,000 tonnes of CO2 to our climate crisis - all without planning permission and in direct contravention of national policy.

There are multiple drone videos of ongoing coal mining, such as the one below filmed on 19^th May 2023. There are also many photos of laden coal trucks leaving the Ffos-y-fran site and unloading at the nearby coal depot with coal trains arriving and leaving, and lorries of customers coming and going. This is happening at a rate and scale that is not compatible with selling off old coal stocks – particularly since coal mining was supposed to end over 8 months ago. We also have emails from the Merthyr Tydfil County Borough Council confirming that ongoing coal mining is occurring at Ffos-y-fran. One email seems to suggest that the mining company may even have lied to the Council by claiming it wasn’t coal mining when the Council asked.

Merthyr Tydfil County Borough Council should issue a Temporary Stop Notice – an emergency enforcement option to be used in cases just like this. It almost instantly stops the defined activity for a period of up to 28 days. This gives the council the time it may need to assess and enforce long-term planning control, without further harm being done in the meantime. On the week of the 08^th May 2023, the council received over 7,000 emails from our supporters demand a Temporary Stop Notice is issued to finally end illegal coal mining at Ffos-y-fan.

The Welsh Government needs to step in without further delay to protect its climate policies, given Merthyr Tydfil County Borough Council’s failure to take the expedient enforcement action described above,. If the Welsh Government exercises its power under S182 of the TCPA 1990, it will be implementing the local democratic decision made by elected councillors on 26^th April, not overriding it. And immediate action is needed by the Welsh Government due to the contravention of its own policies and irreversible harm being caused on a daily basis. On the week of the 08^th May 2023, the Welsh Government Ministers received over 3,000 emails from our supporters demanding that they use their powers to intervene and finally end illegal coal mining at Ffos-y-fan.

In 2021, the International Energy Agency set out a pathway to reach net-zero by 2050, in which for both energy generation and the steel industry, “[n]o new coal mines or extensions of existing ones are needed…existing sources of production are sufficient to cover demand through to 2050” (p103). In addition, Port Talbot Steelworks and British Steel steelworks are negotiating with the UK Government to cut coal out of their steel manufacturing. There is no need-case for the Aberpergwm coal mine, whereas the need-case to keep all coal in the ground is a liveable planet.

Progress is uneven and marked by setbacks like this, but we’ve won against 23 coal mines in the UK—there's 4 more to go, and to finally close the door to any new coal mines. We hope you’re with us until the end. Subscribe to our mailing list to keep updated on our campaigns and get involved.

Coal Action Network’s Barrister, Estelle Dehon KC—with Richard Buxton Solicitors—opened on the morning of 15^th March with a blistering argument  laying out what has happened and why:

1. The Welsh Government’s approval is needed for the Aberpergwm coal mine extension full licence to be valid.
2. The Coal Authority can consider factors beyond a narrow set of criteria when deciding the outcome of a coal company’s application for a conditional or full coal mining licence.

In the afternoon, the Welsh Minister’s Barrister set out their argument for why the Welsh Government’s approval is not required for the Aberpergwm extension full licence to be valid, and that the Wales Act 2017 cannot be applied.

1. If the Welsh Government’s approval is applied to the original conditional licence which dates back to 1996, or to the deconditionalisation/authorisation of a (full) licence in 2022.
2. If the wording in section 26(5) of the Coal Industry Act, that says the Coal Authority can “take into account all such factors as it thinks fit in determining whether, and subject to what conditions, to grant a licence under this Part” means the Coal Authority can apply any considerations it thinks is relevant when deciding on a coal mine application.

Case against Welsh Government

We win:

If the judge accepts that the Welsh Government’s approval (or lack of) applies to the authorisation, then the Wales Act 2017 is applicable, and the Welsh Government’s approval will be needed for the Aberpergwm coal mining licence to be valid.

We lose:

If the judge instead decides that the Welsh Government’s approval applies to the original conditional licence, then Welsh Government approval isn’t required as the conditional licence dates back to 1996 prior to the Wales Act coming into force.. That would mean that the Aberpergwm coal mine can mine under the new licence, adding up to 100 million tonnes of CO2 and 1.17 million tonnes of methane to our atmosphere.

Case against Coal Authority

We win:

If the judge accepts that the Coal Industry Act does indeed give the Coal Authority the power to apply other considerations to a coal mine application. The Coal Authority may have to redecide the Aberpergwm application, and it would then be hard for the Coal Authority to ignore that the Welsh Ministers have stated the coal mine extension would be incompatible with Welsh climate targets.

We lose:

If the judge decides, however, that the Coal Authority can only consider a narrow list of criteria when deciding a conditional or full licence as wider considerations were given in 1996 or 2013. UK law would need to be changed in Westminster to bring the Coal Industry Act in line with the UK Government’s own climate commitments.

A Coal Action Network staff member present at the hearing described said: “It was a real privilege to watch our legal team, Barrister Estelle Dehon KC of Cornerstone Barristers and Matthew McFeeley of Richard Buxton Solicitors, perform with such skilful articulation and clarity in the courtroom today. The case presented showed the flaws in the Welsh Ministers’ and the Coal Authority’s arguments and the barrister for the Welsh Ministers was reduced at one point to arguing to the judge that “her lady should not get caught up on the wording of the law and licence…” (this is literally what the law is based on). We feel confident that our legal team has made convincing and consistent arguments rooted in the law to persuade the judge to find in favour of our claim. We want to thank everyone that supported our crowdfunder to make this hearing possible—we couldn’t have done it without your support”.

Cornerstone Barristers and Richard Buxton Solicitors both provide great summaries of the legal case.

Coal Action Network  is seeking an experienced operations administrator, with a particular focus on finance, to support a small but growing flat-structured staff team following our transition to a formalised employer status with PAYE.

As well as carrying out daily tasks to maintain the organisation's finances and legal compliance as an employer, you will be empowered to improve, design, and implement systems to make the organisation function optimally.

As part of a non hierarchical organisation you will have equal agency as other members of CAN in key decisions affecting the organisation . Upon passing probationary period, you will have the option to become a Co-Director of the organisation.

You will play a key role in ending insurance cover for fossil fuel projects by challenging the world’s biggest energy insurer, Lloyd’s of London, and its members. This new unique role will also leverage CAN’s insurance campaigning capacities to win critical fights against UK coal mines. Your work will centre frontline communities impacted by coal and fossil fuel projects and amplify their voices.

You will work in a team alongside three other insurance campaigners, liaising as necessary with CAN’s UK coal campaigning team. In our non-hierarchical structure you will hold equal agency in decisions affecting the organisation, and, after your probationary period is passed, you will have the option to become a voluntary Co-Director, sharing legal responsibility for the organisation.

If aspects of the Role Description are unfamiliar to you, please see the 'Non-essential' section of the Person Specification for details of what you can learn on the job.

Wales won the freedom to decide its own future on coal mining under The Wales Act 2017. The Welsh Government has a strong policy against mining coal on Welsh soil, and we’re here to support that policy being applied to the Aberpergwm coal mine expansion. Since 2021, the Welsh Government has told the press that its hands are tied because of a legal detail about the Aberpergwm expansion application. Yet, the UK Government, the UK Coal Authority, and even the Parliamentary Welsh Affairs Committee Chair all went on record to say it is for the Welsh Government to decide the fate of the licence to expand the Aberpergwm coal mine. Neither side could agree, and during months of finger-pointing in the press, neither side sought a definitive legal ruling on it either—and the Aberpergwm coal mine extension slipped through.

So Coal Action Network has crowdfunded this judicial review in the hope that the Cardiff Court finds the Welsh Government’s approval is needed for the Aberpergwm expansion licence to be valid. The Welsh Government will then be free to apply its policy against coal to create a greener, cleaner future for Wales.