Safety fears after spoil tip collapse in downpour
TORRENTIAL rain during Storm Callum caused a coal spoil tip to collapse. Heavy downpours last Friday morning caused part of the tip at the Tower Colliery in Hirwaun to slip away.
One resident said houses are about 600 metres from the area and concerns have been raised over the safety of the tip.
The collapse happened on the tip near the end of Tower Road in Hirwaun and is believed to have contributed to the flooding of the Heads of the Valleys road.
The mine closed in 2008 after the coal reserves were finally exhausted after 140 years of production.
Hirwaun councillor Karen Morgan said council engineers told her they found that recent intense rainfall had caused surface water controls on the site to go above their capacity “causing excessive scour of the tip and erosion”.
RCT council said the damage was not a landslip and is investigating the incident.
Surface water moved overland towards the A465 Heads of the Valleys road causing flooding, in combination with the heavy rainfall.
Cllr Morgan said: “I still have questions. We have rain here, they are calling it Storm Callum but we have had heavy rain many times before.
“Whatever the cause, my main concern is that necessary action is taken now to ensure that this does not happen again.”
One concerned resident, who lives about 600m from the area, said: “It happened during the rains. I hadn’t been up there for a good while because of the weather. I took the dog up there and then I saw the collapse, I thought it’s not the best. It’s a popular area with cyclists and dog walkers.”
A public meeting about the incident is being held on October 29 at Ramoth Chapel, Hirwaun, at 7pm.
Cllr Morgan said: “I want reassurances that the integrity of the pit is safe and it will not happen again.
“If this had happened last autumn, it was at least twice the height, it does not bear thinking about.”
The A465 Heads of the Valleys road was closed at 8.25am on Friday due to flooding between the Rhigos and Hirwaun roundabouts.
The closure caused two miles of traffic queues in the area.
An RCT council spokesman said: “Following the unprecedented weather from Storm Callum last weekend, the council is investigating flooding to the A465 and the conveyance of surface water from the Tower Colliery site.
“Officers have attended with the site manager to investigate the cause of the flooding and damage to the earth embankment within the site boundary.
“This has identified the damage as a surface water scour, and not a landslip, due to the intense rainfall–- measured at 180mm by the Tower Colliery rain gauge in just 48 hours.”
Tower Colliery was approached for a statement in relation to the incident but refused to comment.