Bedwas tips rewilding plans 'likely a sham' says legal expert

ERI Limited launched its pre-application consultation in early 2024 to mine two coal tips in Bedwas. 

The company is proposing to extract a total of around 468,000 tonnes of coal from both tips.

A community activist group who are committed to fighting against coal mining as an energy source, Coal Action Network, believe this plan would drive further climate chaos by over one point three million tonnes of CO2, as well as devastate the coal tips’ natural regeneration over the past 30 years since it was abandoned.

The tips in Bedwas are being proposed for remediation (Image: Coal Action Network) They also claim that the project endangers the beautiful Sirhowy Valley Country Park bordering one of the tips.

Residents of the areas around the Sirhowy Valley Country Park have previously spoken out about their concerns over ERI’s plans, including health, safety and environmental concerns.

The plans have left many residents furious and feeling that their worries are not being considered.

 ERI Limited claims it would use some of the profits from the coal mining to restore the coal tips afterwards.

This amounts to more coal mining to clean up the mess left by old coal mining, which has also been the case with the nearby Ffos-y-fran site, which the group say didn’t end well.

Any coal extraction requires either a coal licence or an incidental coal agreement from the Coal Authority, prior to any extraction taking place, and this is in addition to planning permission.

As well as planning permission, to extract coal in the UK, companies need to approach the national regulator, The Coal Authority, to apply for either a ‘coal licence’, or an ‘incidental coal agreement’.

ERI’s hopes of getting a coal licence to mine the Bedwas coal tips could be dashed by the Labour Government’s manifesto intention to prevent any new licences to be issued for coal mining.

Therefore, ERI Ltd only has one other option, to try to get an ‘incidental coal agreement’ from the Coal Authority.

However, guidance received by the Coal Action Network from the Coal Authority and from Toby Fisher, Barrister at Matrix Chambers, London, makes it appear unlikely that ERI’s proposal to mine the Bedwas tips would be eligible for an incidental coal agreement.

Responding to a Freedom of Information request made by the Coal Action Network in March 2024, The Coal Authority explained that “…incidental coal agreements are designed to allow a developer to safely remove coal found during the development of a site.

“Any coal encountered is not mined for commercial purposes, it is being removed as a necessary part of the safe development of the site. In this way, it differs to a licensed mining operation which specifically employs people to remove the coal for commercial reasons.”

Underscoring that, it is understood that incidental coal agreements are not issued for projects aiming to extract commercial quantities of coal, and a subsequent Freedom of Information request by the Coal Action Network revealed that just 3,500 tonnes of coal had been extracted nationwide under incidental coal agreements over the past 18 months.

To put that into context, one opencast coal mine extracted the same amount in just three days.

Communities that could be impacted by the remediation have spoken out about their concerns (Image: Coal Action Network)

The legal opinion of Toby Fisher, Barrister at the highly regarded Matrix Chambers, is that any attempt by ERI Ltd to obtain an incidental coal agreement for its Bedwas coal tips is very unlikely to be successful and can be challenged through the courts if it is.

He has said that any incidental coal agreement issued to ERI “could only be a sham”, as an incidental coal agreement is a provision that allows companies that find coal while building roads, houses or other developments to remove it safely, but it is not believed that there is anything “incidental about removing half a million tonnes of coal”, with the potential profits believed to be “driving the entire project”.

With more than 300 category D coal tips in South Wales alone, Coal Action Network believes ERI’s proposal could trigger a new wave of coal mining if it were successful.

For the sake of localised impacts and our collective climate, they say they are to challenging an application by ERI every step of the way.

Daniel Therkelsen, Campaign Manager at Coal Action Network, said:  "Claiming to fix the problems left over from mining with more mining is a ludicrous proposal.

“UK Labour has shown the courage that Welsh Labour continue to lack by joining Scotland in ruling out licencing any new coal mining.

“Our legal advice agrees that the Bedwas Tips proposal is principally a coal mine, and not a remediation project, so it does need the licence that the new UK Government has pledged not to allow.

“That leaves this proposal dead in the water, sparing the biodiversity that has slowly regrown around the tips. Although the two tips covered by the proposal doesn't include the highest risk tip closest to residents in Bedwas, they do need a long-term solution, as do the numerous abandoned opencast sites littering the South Wales countryside."

ERI have previously said they remain "sensitive" to any  concerns about their plans, and have maintained that they believe the plans will be a benefit to the area and reduce a number of environmental and safety risks.