TWO Gwent AMs spoke at an assembly debate on open cast mining yesterday [wed 22] as more than 100 protestors gathered outside calling for a pause in the industry practice.

The cross-party debate centred on calls from Torfaen AM, Lynne Neagle, for a halt on new and current opencast applications like the controversial one on Varteg Hill, between Abersychan and Blaenavon.

Ms Neagle has been fighting plans from mine operator Glamorgan Power which wants to extract 256,000 tonnes of coal from a site on Varteg Hill, less than 100 metres away from homes and nearby to Ysgol Bryn Onnen.

In the individual members debate in the Senedd yesterday, Ms Neagle once again highlighted the opencast threat facing her constituents. She wants to see the MTAN 2 – planning guidelines and policy set by the assembly – to be adhered to as well as a moratorium on opencast mining so the Welsh Government can undertake a review of the industry.

Speaking in plenary she said: “As this motion sets out, the overriding issue to be addressed is whether MTAN 2 – a policy which took years of discussion and debate in this Assembly to develop – is actually offering the protection for communities it was designed to deliver.

“I’m afraid my long experience in Varteg - where local residents and campaigners have now spent more than a decade fighting plans that would see 250,000 tonnes of coal extracted less than 100 metre from people’s homes and a local primary school – shows me, that for all it’s good intentions, MTAN 2 is not currently delivering for the people I represent.”

At the heart of the dispute are guidelines for a “500-metre buffer zone” which state that opencast mining should take place at least 500 metres from homes.

William Graham, South Wales East AM, also spoke at the debate yesterday. He said: “Developers must be aware a 500 metre buffer zone would be paramount.

"I would like to pay tribute to Lynne Neagle on her exemplary fighting for the people of Varteg.”

Earlier this year Blaenavon campaigners said their opposition is “as strong as ever” after the open cast mine company put in fresh plans for a site.

Opencast mining is a surface mining technique of extracting rock or minerals from the earth into an open pit.

The company's original application was rejected by Torfaen Council in 2010 and then thrown out by the Welsh Government in 2013.

More than one hundred protesters led by the United Valleys Action Group and Friends of the Earth Cymru met at the Assembly steps yesterday saying they support the call by AMs for a pause in opencast mining plans.

Ms Neagle told the debate a moratorium is deliverable. She said: “Whether we need to look devolving new powers from Westminster that would give us more control here in Wales over the licensing system opencast developers operate under; whether we need to look at including opencast sites within the category of Developments of National Significance that are to be dealt with at Welsh Government level; or whether it’s about simply using our current powers more effectively and more creatively - I believe anything, quite frankly, is possible if there is there enough political will and momentum behind it.”