Council workers clearing coal which could have put 'thousands of lives

Council workers who were clearing debris which could have led to an “uncontrolled massive amount of water” rushing down and putting “thousands” of lives at risk were placed under caution by Natural Resources Wales and told they could face prosecution because they were moving waste material. The story, relating Storm Dennis in February 2020, was shared by Rhondda Cynon Taf’s council leader Andrew Morgan. He described the situation as “outrageous” given his staff were “eliminating a serious risk”.

Cllr Morgan rold the Senedd’s climate committee permits would have been needed to move 60,000 tonnes of coal that slipped down the mountainside into the River Rhondda. He said some permits have a statutory 12-to-13-week waiting period and a licence is required to remove trees which cannot be issued retrospectively.

Cllr Morgan said: “In the background we had emergency plans for the possible evacuation of thousands of properties because in the event that the river got impounded … in effect the material from the coal would have created a huge dam. That water would have built up and within a matter of hours once it started breaching … [It] would have cut its way through and we would have seen an uncontrolled massive amount of water heading down the valleys which would have put thousands of lives at risk.”

He added: “To avert anything happening the local authority had to carry out urgent works – with the full support, I have to say, of the First Minister, Prime Minister, and everybody else. We were receiving really good support, financial support. However when we started work two of our officers were placed under caution of potential criminal prosecution by Natural Resources Wales because we were moving waste material.”

Giving evidence about the Welsh Government’s disused tips bill on January 30 the Labour council leader told the committee that some shortcomings remain. “In the end common sense prevailed and our officers were not prosecuted but that situation should never arise again,” he said. “And I’m just concerned that the bill doesn’t address those fundamentals.”

Cllr Morgan, who is also leader of the Welsh Local Government Association, raised a similar situation only a mile down the river during the 2020 storm. “Debris and trees built up under the bridge in Ynyshir, blocked the river, and it meant the river came out into the streets,” he said. “That was very quickly cleared in the 24 to 48 hours after Storm Dennis but the fact that we were removing wood and trees from this land and the river that also led to a potential prosecution and our officers were placed under caution.”

If passed by the Senedd the bill will establish the Disused Tips Authority for Wales with the aim of ensuring more than 2,570 coal tips do not threaten human welfare due to instability. For our free daily briefing on the biggest issues facing the nation sign up to the Wales Matters newsletter here.

Cllr Morgan, who described current legislation as not fit for purpose, said: “An awful lot of the bill seems to be set towards dealing with tips as they currently are. In the event of an emergency and a slip I’m not sure the bill actually addresses some of the key fundamental issues we found.”

Jacqueline Mynott, head of infrastructure asset management at RCT council, warned of potential ambiguity arising from the use of the word “serious” as a threshold in the bill. Cllr Morgan added: “If the term ‘serious’ isn’t defined … we could find ourselves being prosecuted for carrying out work without planning permission, without various licences. I would ask that that is really delved into … never again should we be put in that position.”

Kevin Kinsey, infrastructure services manager at Blaenau Gwent council, broadly welcomed the bill, warning the legacy of mining had been forgotten about to some extent. He said: “Prior to the coal tip safety grant Blaenau Gwent had no budget whatsoever to undertake maintenance on any of the spoil tips. We’ve been fortunate to get just over £1m worth of funding over the past two years from it. It’s allowed us to deal with lots of the issues on our category C and D tips and, in fact, we were able to do maintenance on Cwmtillery tip which failed just before Christmas. The area that we did the maintenance on came through that storm without any incident whatsoever. The failure was on a separate piece of the tip.” Mr Kinsey told the committee an application to the Welsh Government fund was reduced by about 70% last year so the council was unable to undertake much of its planned work.

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