“The funding is owed to us – anything less would be an insult” 

The Westminster Government should foot the bill for making high risk coal tips safe, Plaid Cymru Member of the Senedd for the Rhondda Leanne Wood has said.

Almost 300 old coal tips in Wales have been classed as “high-risk” a year on from a 60,000 tonne landslip caused by Storm Dennis.

The matter will now be discussed at a Welsh Government summit on mine safety on Tuesday.

Wales has more than 2,000 coal tips and of those, 294 are categorised as “high-risk” which means they could endanger life or property.

Plaid Cymru’s MS for the Rhondda said the Westminster Government should provide “all the cash” to ensure the safety of people living in the “shadow” of the tips. 

Ms Wood said that profits from coal mining were “not seen” in the Rhondda nor in “many other coalfield areas across Wales” and said the funding was more than “owed to us”. 

Plaid Cymru Member of the Senedd for the Rhondda Leanne Wood said.

“Coal tips are a bitter legacy of the coal industry. The Westminster Government must provide all the cash needed to ensure the safety of our people and deliver the peace of mind needed for people living in the shadow of coal tips.

“When the profits from coal mining were not seen in Rhondda, nor in many other coalfield areas across Wales, coupled with the high cost to health and lives of the workers and their families, that funding and more is owed to us.

“The final insult from all of this would be to burden people in Wales with the cost of making their communities safe and clean in light of the increased risk of flooding and other extreme weather because of climate change.

“Anything less than Westminster meeting the full cost of making safe high risk coal tips would be unacceptable.