Environmental justice for coalfield communities

During their party conference, Plaid Cymru announced plans for their first hundred days of Government, should they win the Welsh election. Having now formed the Government, we hope to work with them and other Members of the Senedd to achieve some of those priorities. This is the second of three posts outlining opportunities which could help them to do that. Focussed on environmental justice for coal field communities; the new Government has the opportunity to right some of the wrongs of Wales' industrial past and to ensure that all types of coal extraction are prohibited.

Thousands of hectares of land in South Wales have been dug up for coal mining and left in an under-restored, sometimes dangerous, state. These derelict sites break the promises made to nearby communities, who were told they would eventually get an improved local environment to make up for years of disruptive mining. Now some communities face a new threat—coal tip extraction—which hasn't yet been entirely banned by either Westminster or the Welsh Government.

A review of under-restored opencast coal mines should be the starting point for restoration work that focuses on what communities want and boosts nature on each site. This should be the main goal of the new Mining Legacy Working Group. This group needs support and resources from the new Welsh Government and must include the voices of local residents most affected by these sites, as well as the groups advocating for them.

The new Government should be clear where it stands on coal tip extraction with a permanent ban, making sure that restoration works serves public safety, not private profit. They can do this in the first hundred days by pushing the UK Government to change the Coal Industry Act 1994 to ban coal tip extraction as part of the Energy Independence Bill. Since this legislation is already planned, adding these small changes would create big improvements in comparatively minimal time.

These recommendations would help the new Government in the following areas of Plaid Cymru's first 100 days commitments:

• Environmental and community resilience – While pushing the UK Government on justice for coalfield communities and funding to fix coal tips, the new Welsh Government should also push them to include coal tip extraction in the planned Energy Independence Bill.
• Tackling the climate and nature emergencies – Stopping further coal extraction will help any climate plan while protecting nature on safe coal tips. A review of under-restored opencast coal mines should lead to restoration improvements that boost biodiversity and community access to safe, quality green spaces. An updated Climate and Nature Action Plan for Wales should make nature recovery on former opencast sites a priority.

• Cooperative and Collaborative – The new Welsh Government should  launch the Mining Legacy Working Group committed to by the previous Government. By including local residents and the groups close to them as key stakeholders in the working group, the public sector can work together with the community to fix the problems at former opencast sites.