Council workers ‘faced outrageous prosecution’ during landslide clean-up

Chris Haines, ICNN Senedd reporter

Council workers faced the threat of prosecution while working to make a coal tip safe after a landslide put thousands of lives at risk, a committee heard.

Andrew Morgan, leader of Rhondda Cynon Taf council, said staff were cautioned by Natural Resources Wales in the wake of the landslip in Tylorstown, Rhondda, during Storm Dennis.

He told the Senedd’s climate committee: “It was absolutely outrageous that we were potentially facing prosecution for eliminating a serious risk.”

Cllr Morgan explained that the council needed permits 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.

‘Uncontrolled’

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 … 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.

‘Common sense’

“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, the voice of Welsh councils, raised a similar situation only a mile down the river during the 2020 storm.

He said: “Debris and trees built up under the bridge in Ynyshir, blocked the river and it meant the river came out into the streets.

“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.

‘Not fit for purpose’

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.”

‘No budget whatsoever’

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.