Latest news with #Aberfan
Wales Online
2 days ago
- Business
- Wales Online
Wales coal tips will never be safe because the money needed is 'so enormous'
Wales coal tips will never be safe because the money needed is 'so enormous' MPs were told the current funding allocated to coal tip safety in Wales just 'scratches the surface' The site of a landslide at a coal tip in Tylorstown in February 2020 (Image: WalesOnline/Rob Browne ) There will more than likely never be enough funding for the risk posed by disused coal tips in Wales to be taken away, MPs have been told. Representatives from three Welsh councils appeared in front of the House of Commons' Welsh affairs committee on Wednesday morning (June 11) and explained why funding announcements for coal tips are welcome, they only "scratch the surface" of the scale of the problem within their local authorities. The committee was held just hours before chancellor Rachel Reeves announced that the UK Government will give Wales £118m over the next three financial years to "keep coal tips safe in Wales". Wales' First Minister Eluned Morgan explained that the amount pledged by the UK Government was the maximum they had asked for from their UK Labour counterparts. The Welsh Government previously said £600m is needed to remediate the dangerous legacy of mining in the south Wales valleys and is carrying out mapping of recorded coal tips in order to provide a more up-to-date cost estimate. That figure is not yet available. However, adding together the UK and Welsh Government money, the total allocated to making coal tips safe in Wales currently sits at £221m. For our free daily briefing on the biggest issues facing the nation, sign up to the Wales Matters newsletter here Article continues below The Welsh Government had long said it shouldn't have to foot the bill for issues arising from something that happened before devolution. You can read more on that here. Mark Williams, representing Caerphilly County Borough Council, told the committee that it is unlikely that funding allocated to coal tip safety will be enough to completely eliminate any risk from the tips. He added that the the funding does not currently address any remediation costs and just "scratches the surface" in terms of monitoring and maintenance. He said: "The funding that the Welsh and UK Governments have passported through in terms of tips has been very helpful. It enables us to manage the sites that we have - monitor them, undertake any remedial or emergency works to avoid problems in the future - perhaps an Aberfan or a Tylorstown. "What it doesn't do is allow the risk to be completely taken away. I'm not sure we'll get there because the bill is absolutely enormous." Nicola Pearce, from Neath Port Talbot Council, explained that the majority of the £14.48m of funding which has been allocated to her local authority since 2020, has only been spent on one scheme for one tip. She told the committee: "The funding we've had since 2020 has allowed us to undertake significant work on one large pit, Dyffryn Rhondda Tip , which was a concern due to its instability. "Out of the £14.48m of funding that scheme, which is still being delivered, will have cost £12m by the time it's completed - and that's just one scheme. "We have 617 tips within Neath Port Talbot so that gives you an understanding of the cost of remediating these tips and making them safe compared to the scale of the problem we have in Wales - there is quite a disparity." Ms Pearce, Mr Williams and Jacqueline Mynott, representing Rhondda Cynon Taf Council, all told the committee that they welcome funding and the Disused Mine and Quarry Tips (Wales) Bill introduced by the Welsh Government, but said greater funding for coal tip safety was needed from the UK Government as a priority. Ms Mynott said climate change causes a particular problem for coal tips, including those that were remediated in the 1970s and 80s. "We need to review those sites in the context of climate change and rain forecasts to revise the risk and that needs funding," she explained. Mr Williams agreed that former tip sites remediated years ago still need to be monitored. " The tips are still there so with climate change, water management and drainage can become an issue. "The major challenge is the amount of water and drainage issues that tips can throw up with climate change, which is obviously what happened with Tylorstown." Article continues below
Sky News
09-02-2025
- General
- Sky News
Coal tips safety: Residents say lessons 'not learned' from Aberfan disaster
Residents who live near disused coal tips in South Wales say lessons have not been learned from the Aberfan disaster nearly 60 years on. Their comments come after a disused coal tip in Cwmtillery, Blaenau Gwent, partially collapsed in November, forcing around 40 homes to be evacuated. A coal tip is made up of waste material from coal mining, many of which have existed for several decades. 1:09 Dianne Morgan, 68, has lived in the house she had built in the Cwmtillery ward for the last 10 years. She told Sky News she didn't know there was a category D tip - the most dangerous - behind her property, until the slip, which happened after heavy rainfall during Storm Bert. "All we were told was underlying mines had been there. But there was no mention of a tip when we had searches at all," she said. 'Got to be sorted' There are 2,573 disused coal tips in Wales, according to Welsh government data - the vast majority of which are in the former coal mining communities of the South Wales Valleys. Three hundred and sixty of these are in the two most dangerous categories and are monitored at least once a year as they have "the potential to impact public safety". Ms Morgan said she believes lessons have not been learned from the Aberfan disaster in 1966 when a colliery spoil tip collapsed killing 144 people, including 116 children. A build-up of water within the tip after heavy rain caused it to suddenly slide downhill as slurry. The tragedy is considered the worst mining-related disaster in British history and was more recently featured in an episode of Netflix series The Crown. "The tip's got to come down," she said, but added that the authorities "don't want to pay". "They think they'll just drag it on and on and on and then people just forget, but you're not going to forget are you? Because every time we have pouring down rain or if you hear a noise, you come out here and I have a check just in case it's something," she added. "They all talk about they're all broke, ain't we all? But that doesn't matter, it's people's lives you're dealing with and people's homes at the end of the day. "It took everything we had to build this, if that came down and wrecked this, even if I wasn't in it, we've got nothing." She said the slip before Christmas "could have been a lot worse". "Irrespective of who owns it, it's got to be sorted...'cause you don't know where it's going to come down next'," Ms Morgan said. "We've got to have a surety that this tip is going to be seen to, and not only this tip but other tips for other people that could be in the same situation that we are, especially with the rain we're having at the moment." 'Nothing getting done' Brian Preece, 77, has lived in Cwmtillery all his life. He told Sky News he "always played on the tips" as a child. "We never had one inclination from anywhere in my life that them tips was dangerous," he said. "I played on them myself, my children played on them, my grandchildren, my great-grandchildren." He said that if a larger tip would have come down, his street "would have gone" and the tips needed to be taken "down to a safe level". "They've said they was going to do this, and they said they was going to do that, but there's nothing getting done and everybody's worrying now," he added. "The only safe way on my behalf, and I'm sure everybody else, is they should be dropped. "Alright, they say it's going to cost a lot of money, [but] they've got to drop it. You can't put a price on children's lives, on anybody's life, and it should be down." Get Sky News on WhatsApp Follow our channel and never miss an update. Tap here to follow Sky News has approached Blaenau Gwent Council for its response. 'Nothing has changed' In October, Chancellor Rachel Reeves announced £25m in the budget for the maintenance of coal tips in Wales to ensure communities are kept "safe". Meanwhile, the Welsh government has outlined proposals for a Disused Tips Authority for Wales, which would take on responsibility for coal tip safety in future. But campaigners say the money promised to tackle the issue is not enough. Stuart Adams, 65, regularly walks the tips at Bedwas and Cilfynydd. Mr Adams is part of the Clear South Wales's Coal Tips group, which is calling for action to make the tips safer. "It's ordinary people that are going to be affected if there is a disaster, or even a minor slip, which has just happened in Cwmtillery. They still cause masses of disruption for people," he told Sky News. "I'm no expert on the financial side of things, but clearly [the money's] not enough to make these places safe." Mr Adams said the tip at Cilfynydd Common collapsed in 1939 and was seen as "a precursor to an Aberfan disaster". "Luckily no one was hurt, and no one was killed [in the 1939 slip]," he added. "The same could quite easily happen again as nothing has changed with regards to the tips." 'First of its kind' legislation A Welsh government spokesperson said it had invested more than £100m in coal tip safety since 2021 "to ensure our coal tip communities are safe". "We have also introduced modern legislation - the first of its kind in the UK - to prevent disused coal and non-coal tips from being a threat to human life," they added. "The highest risk coal tips (category C and D) are regularly inspected by the Mining Remediation Authority (MRA) and we continue to work with partners across Wales to inspect sites, including additional checks during extreme weather." A spokesperson for the MRA (formerly the Coal Authority) said it continued to provide "support, expertise and advice" to the Welsh government. "We undertake an inspection programme on behalf of Welsh government and other agencies, providing recommendations for maintenance requirements," they added. "We also continue to directly manage the 26 coal tips that the Mining Remediation Authority owns in Wales and provide management services to other landowners as needed."
