{"id":265059,"date":"2025-07-14T19:50:13","date_gmt":"2025-07-14T19:50:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/265059\/"},"modified":"2025-07-14T19:50:13","modified_gmt":"2025-07-14T19:50:13","slug":"westminster-should-be-paying-to-clear-wales-coal-tips","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/265059\/","title":{"rendered":"Westminster should be paying to clear Wales’ coal tips"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"Photo Nation.Cymru<\/p>\n

Delyth Jewell, MS<\/strong><\/p>\n

The coal tips that litter our mountains in Wales are wounds on our landscapes. They stand as daily reminders of the wrongs suffered by our communities \u2013 and Westminster should be paying to clear them.<\/p>\n

That is why I\u2019ve pushed amendments to try and improve the Welsh Government\u2019s Disused Mine and Quarry Tips (Wales) Bill (it\u2019s worth noting that they couldn\u2019t call it the Coal Tips Bill, since coal is, tellingly, reserved to Westminster).<\/p>\n

One of the amendments I\u2019d presented to the Senedd last week would have compelled the UK Government to pay more towards clearing the tips, on account of their historic liability \u2013 since the National Coal Board, previously under their jurisdiction, was responsible for creating these mounds of rubbish in the first place.<\/p>\n

Frustratingly, that amendment was voted down by a majority of Senedd Members.<\/p>\n

<\/a><\/p>\n

Provocative<\/strong><\/p>\n

It was a provocative amendment \u2013 and deliberately so.\u00a0 Part of the Bill, as it\u2019s drafted, lists the circumstances under which the landowner of coal tips could be held liable for them (and, crucially, liable for costs).<\/p>\n

My amendment extended that window of liability back in time to the year 1800 \u2013 so as to cover the time when these tips were created.<\/p>\n

It was the National Coal Board, and hence the UK government as its former owner, that created these coal tips.\u00a0 It is my firm belief that they must carry responsibility for clearing them.<\/p>\n

Indeed, and as I argued in the Senedd last week, the parents of Aberfan identified the National Coal Board as the bearers of responsibility for their children\u2019s deaths.<\/p>\n

I quoted a transcript from the Times newspaper, which my father remembers reading at the time (and which he\u2019s since rediscovered, and shown to me).\u00a0 The article was published on the 25th of October 1966 \u2013 just two days after the disaster \u2013 and it recounts that, at a coroner\u2019s inquest in a chapel vestry, there were shouts of \u201cMark the death certificates: \u201cBuried alive by the National Coal Board\u201d.<\/p>\n

<\/a><\/p>\n

Aberfan<\/strong><\/p>\n

Aberfan, of course, was the moment that should have changed everything. No coal tip should have been allowed to remain on our hillsides after that darkest of days.<\/p>\n

But nobody lost their job. No one was held responsible.<\/p>\n

The amendment I presented was my attempt to make up for that pity from our past. Because surely, it\u2019s about that that wrong were made right.<\/p>\n

When those Members who voted against my amendment explained their reasoning, both Conservative and Labour MSs argued that extending the window of liability so far into the past would be too onerous.<\/p>\n

They argued that too much time had elapsed, and too many practical barriers would be in the way. But that was to miss the point entirely.<\/p>\n

As Jane Dodds had said during that debate, such an environmental (and indeed, moral and social) responsibility should carry no such sell-by-date. And yes, my amendment did cover a wide expanse of time \u2013 and it was only right that it did, because this is a Bill about time.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s about time we had it, yes, but it\u2019s also a Bill centred on the effects of time past, time lost, and time yet to come. \u00a0The tips encapsulate and symbolise the passage of that lost time: the cost of what has happened, and what has not happened to our communities. They tell a story of our wounds.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s about time those wounds were healed.<\/p>\n

New coal mines<\/strong><\/p>\n

Labour and the Conservatives also failed to back my other amendment that would have banned the practice of selling coal from coal tips for the purposes of burning \u2013 an amendment that would have helped ensure coal tips don\u2019t become new coal mines, and turn our valleys into a mockery of mining once again.<\/p>\n

The Welsh Government has signalled that they\u2019ll be looking to tighten guidance on this matter, and many of the communities I represent will be eager to see the detail when it emerges. Without banning this practice, we risk insulting the sacrifices of our yesterdays, and threatening the health of our towns\u2019 tomorrows.<\/p>\n

We cannot allow a new industry of mining by stealth to emerge from these coal tips.<\/p>\n

No, the tips should be cleared \u2013 and Westminster should be footing the bill. When the Bill reaches its final stages in the Senedd this week, my party will vote for it \u2013 because not to vote for a bill which centres on the safety of these tips would be unconscionable.<\/p>\n

But what a wasted opportunity this has been to use the Bill as a means of righting historic wrongs, and protecting our communities from future harm. Our valleys, and towns across Wales, have lived beneath these coal tips far too long \u2013 it\u2019s high time that their shadow were lifted.<\/p>\n

Delyth Jewell is a Plaid Cymru MS for South Wales East\u00a0<\/p>\n

Support our Nation today<\/p>\n

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\n independent, not-for-profit, national news service for the people of Wales, by
\n the people of Wales.<\/strong>\n <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Photo Nation.Cymru Delyth Jewell, MS The coal tips that litter our mountains in Wales are wounds on our…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":265060,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5010],"tags":[748,4884,16,15,1764],"class_list":{"0":"post-265059","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-wales","8":"tag-britain","9":"tag-great-britain","10":"tag-uk","11":"tag-united-kingdom","12":"tag-wales"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@uk\/114853329397551413","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/265059","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=265059"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/265059\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/265060"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=265059"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=265059"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=265059"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}