Council accused of ‘cynical greenwashing’ in coal tip row

Martin Shipton

A local authority has been accused of seeking to “greenwash” its pollution record by offloading some of its potential carbon emissions to a private firm.

Caerphilly County Borough Council recently announced its Net Zero Carbon 2025 Strategy.

But two Independent councillors are not impressed after learning about what they describe as a troubling contradiction that undermines the Labour-controlled authority’s credibility.

At the last council election in 2022, Janine Reed and Jan Jones won a landslide victory over the then council leader Philippa Marsden in her Ynysddu ward following immense public dissatisfaction about a local waste plant.

Now the pair are at odds with the ruling group over another environmental issue.

Spoil tips

Cllr Reid said: “When Cllr Jones and I mentioned an imminent planning application from the private coal mining company ERI Ltd to ‘remediate’ two out of the four Bedwas spoil tips on council-owned land – by selling coal to ‘remediate’ the site – a member of the carbon reduction team stated that any downstream carbon generated as part of this scheme would not be counted by CCBC in their Net Zero calculations as the land will be leased!

“The council has been working with ERI since 2017 on a plan that will entail processing coal spoil in the Sirhowy Valley Country Park.

“This accounting sleight of hand by CCBC exposes a glaring case of environmental hypocrisy. While the Deputy Leader and Transformation Manager publicly champion a green strategy, CCBC is quietly enabling fossil-fuel extraction through a convenient loophole. Where half a million tonnes of extracted coal from Bedwas tips could release up to 1.3 million tonnes of Co2 into the atmosphere – yet not feature in Caerphilly council’s Net Zero calculations.

“Climate change doesn’t recognise such arbitrary distinctions. Carbon released from coal mined on council-owned land contributes to global warming, regardless of who signs the extraction paperwork.

“If CCBC is genuinely committed to decarbonisation, it must take responsibility for emissions generated by its assets and decisions, not pass the carbon buck by leasing council land to private mining operators while claiming to have green credentials.

“The residents of Caerphilly deserve transparent environmental leadership, not cynical greenwashing.”

‘Shocking’

‘Cllr Jones said: “It is shocking that our beloved Sirhowy Valley Country Park is being earmarked for a large processing plant for eight million tonnes of coal spoil.

“Some 7:5million tonnes of contaminated spoil will be dumped on top of a nature reserve, in the park, where documented rare flora and fauna live.

And 0:5 million tonnes of coal will be transported through the country park by 10,000-plus lorries a year, past an ancient woodland, a community farm and mere inches away from the Welsh Government’s Covid Memorial Woodland.”

A spokesperson for CCBC said: “The council is aware that there is some concern and confusion in the community about the reclamation of Bedwas Tip, so we are keen to set the record straight about the current position.

“Firstly, it is important to stress that no permission has been granted for any such reclamation scheme to progress. Indeed, if such a major project was to go ahead, it would be subject to detailed scrutiny and public consultation as part of the formal planning application process.

“A scheme of this significance would also be subject to approval and permissions from a range of other statutory agencies before any work could start.

“At this moment in time, no formal planning application has been submitted to the council; however, we are aware that a developer has carried out ‘pre-application consultation’.

“The local planning authority is not involved in this process and at this stage no formal planning application has been submitted for the authority to consider the precise nature of the proposal.

“The leader of the council, Cllr Sean Morgan, is keen to provide reassurance to local residents.

Consultation

Cllr Morgan said: “If a formal planning application is received, then appropriate consultation will take place so that all stakeholders in the community have the opportunity to provide feedback before the matter is determined by the planning committee.”

“I hope this helps clarify the current position and please be assured that any such scheme would be subject to robust scrutiny and would also require a range of conditions and control measures to minimise the impact of any planned works,” he added.