More than £100m will be invested into coal tip safety this Senedd term.
The total, confirmed today by Deputy First Minister with responsibility for Climate Change, Huw Irranca-Davies, will allow the Welsh Government to expand the coal tip safety grant to expediate work on disused tips across the country.
It is made up of the £65m already committed from 2021 to 2025, the £25m requested and received from the UK Government for 2025-26 as part of its autumn budget earlier this year, plus an additional £12m announced in today’s draft budget.
The funding confirmation follows this week’s announcement of the introduction of a new Bill which, if passed, would see the creation of an organisation with responsibility for a new regime to manage Wales’s disused tips.
The Disused Mine and Quarry Tips (Wales) Bill proposes to establish a Disused Tips Authority for Wales.
The Bill is the first of its type in the UK and is world-leading in developing a robust system for the safety of disused tips.
The new authority would become a Welsh Government sponsored body responsible for the assessment, registration, monitoring and management of disused tips.
Deputy First Minister Huw Irranca-Davies said: “We are absolutely committed to making sure that people living in coalfield communities across Wales are safe in their homes.
“The recent storm Bert is yet another stark warning of the damage rainfall can cause, and how vulnerable disused tips can be to extreme weather conditions.
“I know many people living in coalfield communities across Wales are concerned, and so we must be ready to adapt and respond.
“That’s exactly why we are investing £100m in coal tip safety this Senedd term and introducing this Bill – the first of its kind in the UK: to prevent disused coal and non-coal tips from being a threat to human welfare.
“It fulfils our promise to introduce legislation to deal with the legacy of centuries of mining and ensure coal tip safety. And it will help to ensure that the tragic mistakes of the past are not repeated.”
