Minister leads summit to aid restoration of opencast sites

Natural Resources Minister Carl Sargeant today (Thursday 9 July) said he is committed to finding a solution to ensure full and sustainable restoration of opencast coal sites in Wales.

The Minister has brought together local planning authorities, opencast site operators, the Coal Authority and community groups representing those living near unrestored sites, for today’s opencast coal summit. Its focus is to consider what actions can be taken to overcome the challenges in restoring sites when opencast coal operations come to an end.

Speaking ahead of the summit Carl Sargeant said:

“I am concerned about the significant and lasting impacts of the failure to restore on communities living in close proximity to opencast sites. A number of sites have been left with insufficient money to enable satisfactory final restoration, as a result of  questionable land transfer transactions and the legacy of the privatisation of the coal industry in the mid 1990s.

“In several cases there are insufficient monies in the bonds attached to the sites to cover restoration in the event of default by the operator.

“The object of today is to begin the debate on possible solutions. Those present at the summit will set out their perspective on the way to secure more effective restoration of opencast sites for the benefit of the communities and environment of Wales.”

Carl Sargeant added that he has written to the UK Government about this issue and will be having further discussions with them following the Summit.

“I will ensure that the Welsh Government is part of discussions at the UK level to try and resolve these issues. I want to secure the best and most applicable solution for Wales – which ultimately, means full restoration of all operating sites,” he added.