Coal tips that pose a danger to be tackled with £34m funding | UK News

Residents will be protected from landslips, with more than £34m being invested to improve safety at coal tip sites across Wales.

There have been a number of incidents, such as in November 2024 during Storm Bert, when homes in Cwmtillery, Blaenau Gwent, were damaged and people evacuated.

Residents in the village said they felt like they had been forgotten, with one saying the money had come too late following a harrowing six months for people in the area.

The funding will see safety work take place at 130 sites in 10 local authority areas – with £11.5m focused on Rhondda Cynon Taf, which has the most coal tips classified as posing the highest risk.

“It’s all too late. It should have been done a long time ago,” said Cwmtillery resident Russell Martin.

“Three years or more, four it’s been around. We knew it could have happened. Not only that, it’s deterioration of properties now.”

He described sand bags being a feature of life now and concerns when there’s bad weather, adding: “If we were not of this age we wouldn’t stay here.

“We are not moving now at 72 and 71 years of age.”

“We haven’t got a council house and can’t just say ‘you move me, I don’t want to live here, I want to move from here’,” said another resident, Diane Morgan.

“We’ve put a lot of money into this [house], we still are, we’ve worked really hard. It’s upsetting. Why should we live under this threat?”

She gave a cautious welcome to the funding news, describing the “pure carnage” of “two trees, massive boulders, slurry down the hill”, during Storm Bert.

But she also said she had sent photos to the authorities in the past following storms when rivers of water had been running down the street, saying: “It’s like we don’t exist.”

With more storms than ever happening, she called on the authorities to “get your priorities right”.

Deputy First Minister Huw Irranca-Davies described the Welsh government funding as “unprecedented”, with it sitting alongside £25m pledged by the UK government last October.

With coal tips dotted around the south Wales valleys – a legacy of the area’s mining past – fears have existed for some time about the potential risks they pose.

These concerns were heightened in 2020, after a landslip in Tylorstown, Rhondda Cynon Taf.

Some 60,000 tonnes of spoil material slid down the side of an old coal tip, entering a river.

This led to the launch of a Coal Tip Safety Taskforce between the Welsh and UK governments.

A total of 2,573 disused coal tips were identified, with 360 classed as having “the potential to impact public safety” and requiring regular inspection.

A review, commissioned by the Welsh government, found existing laws on tip safety – introduced in the wake of the Aberfan disaster in 1966 – no longer provided “an effective management framework”, as they were designed for a time when there was an active coal industry.

Rhondda Cynon Taf has the highest number of the most risky category D tips in Wales.

The local authority area will receive £11.49m, with Neath Port Talbot getting £6.34m, Merthyr Tydfil £4.2m, Caerphilly £2.78m, Blaenau Gwent £1.997m, Torfaen £1.98m and Bridgend £1.8m, in the major awards.

Work will be carried out by local authorities, and Natural Resources Wales (NRW).

“These tips are a visible symbol of how coal mining shaped the valleys but many years later, the tips are still causing issues around safety and pollution which have to be addressed urgently,” said Neath Port Talbot council leader Steve Hunt.

NRW will get £2.298m, while Wrexham will get £823,000, Cardiff £110,000 and Monmouthshire £16,000.

Mr Irranca-Davies, who also has responsibility for climate change, said he hoped a Disused Mine and Quarry Tips (Wales) Bill introduced in the Senedd last December, would provide further reassurances.

“If passed, this ground-breaking legislation will establish a dedicated public body to safeguard against threats from tip instability,” he said.

“The new authority would take full responsibility for assessment, registration, monitoring and management of these sites across Wales, helping to provide peace of mind to nearby communities.”