Calls for Senedd action on 'slow Aberfan disaster'
Labour's Carolyn Thomas led a Senedd debate on an 11,473-name petition – submitted by Monika Golebiewska – calling for an exclusion zone around homes, schools and hospitals.
Ms Thomas, who chairs the petitions committee which met campaigners in November, urged Welsh ministers to show they are listening to those profoundly affected by quarrying.
'It is the safety of children on the way to and from school, with quarry lorries going past … the worry about airborne dust in communities, with high rates of serious respiratory conditions… the fear about structural damage to homes."
Joel James backed a buffer zone, calling for more to be done to mitigate the impact of Craig-yr-Hesg quarry on people living in Glyncoch, near Pontypridd.
Rhys ab Owen, an independent, put the current 200-metre buffer zone in context.
'200m is from the Senedd steps to the Norwegian church,' he said, asking: 'Who here would think it'd be appropriate to have such noise and such pollution so near to our national legislature, let alone so near to where children live, are educated and play?'
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