Residents unhappy with new Ffos y Fran restoration plan

Anthony Lewis, local democracy reporter

People have been living in the shadow of the massive opencast coal mine known as Ffos y Fran in Merthyr Tydfil for more than a decade and a half now.

Their hope was that once the mining had stopped, a plan would be put in place to clean the site up and make it safe.

Over the last few years, Ffos y Fran has been in the news a lot having seen an application to extend operations turned down, and then because coal was being mined for around a year longer than there was permission for, despite an enforcement notice being issued by Merthyr Tydfil Council. It finally closed in November, 2023.

In its time of operation it has seen the extraction of around 11 million tons of coal between 2007 and 2023.

Now a new restoration plan has been submitted but residents aren’t happy with it and say they want the one that was originally promised as part of a planning permission granted in 2011.

“Sub standard” scheme

Chris and Alyson Austin live near the site and spoke of the “sub-standard” plans for a revised scheme for the final restoration of 285 hectares of land that had previously been part of the surface mine operations.

Chris and Alyson said: “We are annoyed and frustrated to find this planning application proposing such a sub-standard final restoration when there is absolutely no argument for why the original scheme promised us shouldn’t be delivered.

“The mining company, Merthyr (South Wales) Limited has declared in its accounts held in Companies House that they have set aside way over and above enough money to cover the cost of the originally contracted scheme, so why are we even considering this new proposal?

“The mining company are arguing that it would be better environmentally to provide a much reduced restoration of the site, but that is just an absurd argument.

“There would always be an environmental benefit to them doing less work – doing no work at all would be massively beneficial to the environment, but then they would deliver no restoration whatsoever.

“It’s like saying that providing a train line from Merthyr to Cardiff would be better environmentally if we only took it to Pontypridd. There is always a balance to be found, but this proposal goes nowhere to meet that balance and doesn’t even meet the fundamental requirements.

“This proposal is just a fudge, and we believe that it’s all about the mining company spending no further money on the final restoration of Ffos-y-Fran over and above the £15m surety bond money lodged in an escrow account.

“The cost of the final restoration was to be borne by the mine operator, whatever that were to be, and this was the risk that they took against the prospect of large, even huge profits to be made from the sale of the mined coal.”

Two options

They said the local authority originally got the final restoration proposals down to two options which were the minimal low level option one and the medium level option two which would include the filling-in of the dangerous mining void.

“Although neither option provides the level of restoration we were promised, the medium restoration, option two, was selected by the MTCBC (Merthyr Tydfil County Borough Council) local authority and all were agreed on this as the best way forward.

“Then the mining company turned off the pumps and allowed the mining void to be flooded which, they say, now makes the delivery of option two impossible and we have to take the much reduced, and cheaper, option one.”

“We need this dangerous mining void to be filled-in and there are no reasons, not even financially, why this cannot be delivered. The mining void can be pumped out and then backfilled with spoil from the tips.

“This is the barest minimum needed, and this was what the local authority selected in their choice of option two.

“Surely, a full and proper restoration to green-belt, common land, for use as public amenity and grazing is the least we can ask for after suffering 17 years of opencast coal mining on our doorstep.

“They’ve made vast profit out of this coal mining operation, the least they can do is clean up after them, as was promised. We call on the Welsh Government to call-in this planning proposal and give it the scrutiny it requires on the wider platform provided by a public inquiry.”

The area is being exploited

One Dowlais resident who did not want to be named said: “Whatever the plans are they are not the original intentions. People are concerned about the hole filling with water, whether it will leak into whatever systems are underneath it.

“The other thing is it’s a complete eyesore. We’ve still got the scars from the industrial revolution.”

They claimed a lot of wealth had been taken out without anything coming back into the community. And they added that there was always going to be lots of coal dust and that when it was dry you noticed the dust even more.

They said: “This area is never going to forget things like Aberfan” adding that the situation “does not inspire confidence that whatever they have left is in a stable, good condition.”

They said the situation was ” just really disappointing” for local residents and that “this area has been so exploited.” “Why not sort it out? Local residents feel let down.”

Coal Action Network

Daniel Therkelsen is from Coal Action Network which campaigns for an end to the use of coal in power generation and steel production.

He said: “After 16 years of mining, dust, and noise pollution, Merthyr Tydfil deserves to have the promise of a high-quality restoration delivered to them.

“The new application documents, though, want to downgrade the restoration to a “low level” restoration that would condemn Merthyr Tydfil residents to live below a water-filled void with a capacity of over one million cubic metres of mine water and in the shadow of three colossal coal tips containing 37 million cubic metres of colliery spoil.

“The currently agreed scheme is valued at between £75m-£120m, which Merthyr (South Wales) Ltd is contractually obligated to fund and its annual accounts indicate it has been setting aside profits each year to deliver on that – even claiming tax breaks for doing so from HMRC.

“Instead, this new application for a ‘low level’ restoration is to ‘be funded by the proceeds held in the ESCROW account’ amounting to just £15m and allowing Merthyr (South Wales) Ltd to enjoy tens of millions in additional profits, some of which was made during over a year of illegal coal mining.

“It is a matter of public record that the mining company can afford to deliver on its contractual obligation of a high quality restoration, so councillors must reject this attempt to cheapen the offer to Merthyr Tydfil by tens of millions, leaving a scar and hazards on the landscape for generations to come.”

Merthyr Tydfil Council said: “Merthyr (South Wales) Ltd have submitted a planning application incorporating a revised restoration strategy at the Ffos y Fran Land Reclamation Scheme, with the application validated on February 20.

“All relevant issues will be considered as part of the planning application process, and the application will be presented to planning committee for determination in due course.”

The Welsh Government said: “We are working with Merthyr Tydfil County Borough Council and other regulators as part of a technical working group to ensure the best possible outcome is achieved for local people.”

The key elements of the revised scheme include:

A mound in the northern part of the site would be reduced in height, “re-profiled” and grass seeded
Sections of exposed rock on the western side of the mound would be kept as open scree
Two other mounds would remain largely as they appear today, and the lower slopes grass seeded and planted with native tree species.
Old reservoirs, dams and leats that remain from previous phases of mining would be kept. Other water bodies such as settlement lagoons used in the earlier phases of Ffos y Fran would also be kept.
The lake in the main void would be kept with shallow banks and margins around the shores of the lake. The surrounding slopes of the lake would be “re-profiled” and planted with native trees to form a mixed woodland
Demolition and removal of existing buildings associated with the mine
A proportion of the site would be returned to urban common as rough grazing land
Areas outside the urban common would be prepared for habitats to be created with grassland, woodland, open cliff, wetland, flushes and heath.
Land adjacent to A4060 would be “re-profiled” to provide potential for future light industrial use and grass seeded for general amenity until opportunities for development come forward.
Creation of a network of footpaths, public rights of way and a byway open to all traffic
Merthyr (South Wales) Ltd has been contacted for comment.