Restoration of opencast mining sites

The Climate Change, Environment and Infrastructure Committee (‘the Committee’) has agreed to undertake a short piece of work to explore the restoration of former opencast mining sites in south Wales.

This work will focus on:

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>>> the financial and practical arrangements for the restoration of the Ffos y Fran opencast site;

>>> how restoration of opencast sites can be secured, and contingency planning in the event of insufficient funds being available; and

>>> the findings and recommendations from the Welsh Government report on Research into the failure to restore opencast coal sites in south Wales (April 2014) and whether these still apply.

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Report: The Committee published its report: Restoration of opencast mining sites (PDF 865KB) on 8 August 2024.

Responses:

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>>> Swansea residents responded (PDF 5MB) to the Committee’s report on 22 August 2024.

>>> Merthyr Tydfil County Borough Council: Merthyr Tydfil County Borough Council responded (PDF 321KB) to the Committee’s report on 13 September 2024.

>>> Welsh Government response: The Welsh Government responded (PDF 199KB) to the Committee’s report on 20 September 2024.

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Plenary debate: A debate was held in plenary on 13 November 2024.

Our approach

The Committee will hold evidence sessions on 24 April and 9 May 2024 with representatives of The Coal Authority, environmental organisations as well as local residents' groups.

Correspondences

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>>> Response from the Minister for Climate Change to the Chair in relation to Ffos-y-Fran opencast coalmine (PDF 205 KB) - 15 March 2024

>>>Follow up letter from the Chair to the Minister for Climate Change in relation to the Ffos y Fran opencast coal mine (PDF 76 KB) – 8 March 2024

>>> Letter from the Chair to the Minister for Climate Change in relation to the Ffos-y-Fran opencast coalmine (PDF 94 KB) - 11 January 2024

>>> Ministerial advice in relation to Ffos-y-Fran opencast coal mine, shared with the Committee by the Coal Action Network (PDF 164 KB) – 28 July 2023

>>> Letter from the Coal Authority to the Welsh Government in relation to Ffos-y-Fran opencast coal mine (PDF 146 KB) - 20 October 2023

>>> Letter from the Coal Action Network to the Chair in relation to Ffos-y-Fran opencast coal mine (PDF 138 KB) – 4 December 2023

>>> Correspondence from Helen Morgan MP to the Climate Change Committee in relation to Ffos-y-Fran opencast coalmine (PDF 737 KB) - 18 September 2023

>>> Response from the Minister for Climate Change to the Chair in relation to Ffos-y-Fran opencast coalmine (PDF 191 KB) – 15 September 2023

>>> Letter from the Chair to the Minister for Climate Change in relation to the Ffos-y-Fran opencast coal mine (PDF 104 KB) – 24 July 2023

>>> Legal opinion commissioned and shared with the Committee by the Coal Action Network (PDF 197 KB) – 23 June 2023