New body to enforce coal tip safety law following landslides
ANEW law is being brought in by the Welsh Government to protect the nation from coal tip landslides.
It will see a new authority set up with powers to check the safety of tips, and have the ability to fine anyone not adhering to the new rules.
The white paper, which details Welsh Government proposals, has been published today will go to consultation until August.
Labour has committed to the law being passed in this Senedd term. The legislation will initially cover coal tips but will in time expand to spoil tips, which total 20,000 in Wales.
After the flooding in February 2020 that led to coal tip slides in Rhondda Cynon Taf – including at Tylorstown – the Welsh Government began looking at the system in place to protect people. It emerged that there was no consistent grading or checks being made of the hundreds of tips.
The Law Commission said in March that a new body should be set up, and the Welsh Government say it has gone further than those recommendations with this draft law.
The Welsh Government is still yet to make public a list of coal tips and what category they are in – that is still not available, we understand. A list of the number of tips per council area has previously been published. The law will mean:
A new supervisory body set up to ensure the safety of coal tips;
All tips will be given a category on a scale of one to five;
Management arrangements will have to be in place for the highestcategory tips;
A new national asset register will be set up; and
Enforcement powers will be put in place including a requirement for inspections, upkeep, or remedial works, with civil sanctions imposed when the new legislation is not complied with
The Welsh Government says it will reduce the risk of landslides as happened in Tylorstown in February 2020.
The new authority will have to arrange management plans for all tips, proportionately depending on the category of the tip.
Those in the highest categories will need a schedule of inspections and appraisals, specialist assessment, additional inspections before and after rainfall and a proactive programme of maintenance.
The scheme includes both inspections and appraisals, the frequency of which is determined by the category of the tip.
The most serious – “category one” – will be inspected every six months and an appraisal, by someone with a minimum of five years’ experience, will be every year.
They will be overseen by the new supervisory authority. Those which are categorised between level two and five will be carried out by either councils or owners.
Those not adhering to the law by failing to update the register, failing to inspect or maintain, can face civil sanctions.
Failure to comply with a tip order or notifying the authority of the existence of a tip can face criminal sanctions.
Climate change minister Julie James said: “Wales has a proud mining heritage, but I understand the nervousness felt by those living in the shadow of coal tips.
“Due to increased risks from the climate emergency, it’s clear the current coal tip safety law is no longer fit-for-purpose.
“The Welsh Government is committed to introducing legislation during this Senedd to ensure people can feel safe and secure in their own homes, within communities that were vital in firing up the industrial revolution.
“We have put these people at the heart of our proposals for a whole new regime, while ensuring we protect critical infrastructure and continue to care for our environment.”
Funding the repairs to coal tips has been a contentious issue.
The Welsh Government has repeatedly said as it was a pre-devolution issue the UK Government should meet the £600m bill but they have refused. The Welsh Government said it would foot the bill but it would mean “difficult choices” would have to be made with budgets. Finance minister Rebecca Evans said in September 2021: “There would inevitably be very difficult decisions about which areas of those who would have to cut in order to invest in the coal tip remediation work.”