Council awarded £520,000 to make coal tip safe
A council has been awarded £520,000 from the Welsh Government to repair drainage channels at a former mining site and ensure it remains safe and intact.
More than £390,000 of the funding will be invested in renewing concrete drainage channels that have been installed around the site in the Ogmore Valley.
An additional £130,000 will enable Bridgend County Borough Council to carry out further necessary maintenance on natural drainage ditches and culverts which are located close by.
The work, which will ensure that excess water can continue to drain safely into existing streams and rivers instead of entering the ground, is being undertaken on a site known as Ocean Colliery Number Six.
The site was previously owned by the Ocean Coal Company, and is located near Nantymoel in the Ogmore Valley.
Problems
Councillor John Spanswick, Cabinet Member for Climate Change and the Environment, said: “While these works are precautionary, they are important for safeguarding the future of this former industrial site against the effects of climate change by ensuring that excess water cannot enter the ground and risk making it unstable.
“Instead, the drainage will continue to run along the channels towards existing water courses, and the work will prevent further problems from developing that might otherwise affect the stability of the site later on.
“All former mining sites are subject to regular safety inspections, and this has only identified minor maintenance issues which have all been promptly dealt with.
“Residents can be assured that Bridgend County Borough Council is continuing to work alongside Welsh Government, the Coal Authority, Natural Resources Wales and the Coal Tip Safety Taskforce to regularly monitor all local sites, and to ensure that they remain safe.”
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Although any money to make safe those highly dangerous coal slurry tips is welcomed, one of 350 teetering above our valley communities I might add, it’s an ongoing outrage that it’s the Welsh Government is expected to pay not Whitehall who effectively have washed its bloodied hands of a problem they caused in their insatiable appetite for Welsh natural resources. It’s the British Coal Board being an arm of government that was and still is responsible, therefore it’s Whitehall who are culpable for any cost to restore because we as Welsh people have already paid a high price. But I… Read more »
That question you pose in your final paragraph has been asked repeatedly for decades especially since Aberfan. Looks like most of our people have either submitted or don’t give a s**t.