View across the Ffos-y-fran Land Reclamation Scheme

The Ffos-y-fran Land Reclamation Scheme was a major

opencast Open-pit mining, also known as open-cast or open-cut mining and in larger contexts mega-mining, is a surface mining technique that extracts rock or minerals from the earth. Open-pit mines are used when deposits of commercially useful ore or ro ...

coal Coal is a combustible black or brownish-black sedimentary rock, formed as rock strata called coal seams. Coal is mostly carbon with variable amounts of other Chemical element, elements, chiefly hydrogen, sulfur, oxygen, and nitrogen. Coal i ...

ing operation to the north-east of

Merthyr Tydfil Merthyr Tydfil () is the main town in Merthyr Tydfil County Borough, Wales, administered by Merthyr Tydfil County Borough Council. It is about north of Cardiff. Often called just Merthyr, it is said to be named after Tydfil, daughter of K ...

South Wales South Wales ( ) is a Regions of Wales, loosely defined region of Wales bordered by England to the east and mid Wales to the north. Generally considered to include the Historic counties of Wales, historic counties of Glamorgan and Monmouthshire ( ...

. It was the last major opencast mine in the UK, and it shut down in November 2023 with restoration planned to start in 2024. The contracted excavator/reclaiming company was Merthyr (South Wales) Ltd (previously called Miller Argent), which is owned by Gwent Investments Limited, a privately owned family business based in South Wales. The scheme development was the last part of the East Merthyr Reclamation scheme, and planned to extract 10 million tonnes of coal over 15 years starting from 2007, with the intention of using part of the revenue to redevelop the current former industrial workings into residential and recreational use. The

coal mine has provoked criticism at a local and national scale, including objections on health and safety grounds as to the close proximity of housing to the site, concerns of the despoiling of the landscape, and global concerns of the contribution of coal to

climate change Present-day climate change includes both global warming—the ongoing increase in Global surface temperature, global average temperature—and its wider effects on Earth's climate system. Climate variability and change, Climate change in ...

. A number of protests have occurred on and around the site. The license of the site expired in September 2022; an application for a 9-month extension was filed with Merthyr Tydfil Council. That application was refused in April 2023, meaning the site would have to close. In August 2023, the company announced that the mine will close by the end of November 2023. The mine shut down in November 2023 as planned.

Background

Following the 18th century development of Merthyr as an industrial centre, and the shut-down of the deepcast

coal mining industry Coal is a combustible black or brownish-black sedimentary rock, formed as rock strata called coal seams. Coal is mostly carbon with variable amounts of other elements, chiefly hydrogen, sulfur, oxygen, and nitrogen. Coal is a type of fossi ...

from the 1930s through to the 1980s, the area to the east of Merthyr Tydfil has suffered severe dereliction. The East Merthyr Reclamation Scheme was the initiative of the former Merthyr Tydfil Borough Council and Mid Glamorgan County Council, in partnership with the

Welsh Development Agency Welsh Development Agency (WDA; ) was an executive agency (or QUANGO) and later designated an Assembly Sponsored Public Body (ASPB). Established in 1976, it was tasked with rescuing the ailing Welsh economy by encouraging business development and ...

in the mid-1980s and was launched by the

Secretary of State for Wales The secretary of state for Wales (), also referred to as the Welsh secretary, is a secretary of state in the Government of the United Kingdom, with responsibility for the Wales Office. The incumbent is a member of the Cabinet of the United Ki ...

following the grant of planning permission. The aim was to extract coal from the area of East Merthyr by the cheapest and most profitable means, rather than detracting from it and its environment. The East Merthyr Reclamation Scheme is made up of three phases, each with the objective of reclaiming the derelict and dangerous land to the east of Merthyr Tydfil, using revenues from surface coal mining operations, restoring the land to beneficial use at no cost to the public purse. Phases I 'Incline Top' and II the Dowlais 'Great White Tip' of the scheme were completed in 1993 and 1997 respectively, restoring 106 ha of derelict land to provide residential, light industrial and recreational uses. The 'Ffos-y-fran Land Reclamation Scheme', represents the third, and final, stage of the wider East Merthyr Reclamation Scheme. It is the largest of the original three phases and will restore over 360 ha of previously derelict and disturbed land. Once completed, the land, which will be fit for upland grazing, with safe access for use by the community, will be returned to the planning authority.

Planning

Planning consent for Phase III was granted in November 1988. However, local debates continued over the nature and scale of the development which will lead to the extraction of 10 m tonnes of coal over 15 years; as well as commercial concerns over the size of the coal reserve, together with access rights to the land. Protesters said that if the scheme proceeded, it would mean work taking place just a few hundred metres away from homes in the villages of

Dowlais Dowlais () is a village and Community (Wales), community of the county borough of Merthyr Tydfil County Borough, Merthyr Tydfil, in Wales. At the United Kingdom Census 2011, 2011 census the electoral ward had a population of 6,926, The populati ...

Mountain Hare The mountain hare (''Lepus timidus''), also known as blue hare, tundra hare, variable hare, white hare, snow hare, alpine hare, and Irish hare, is a species of Palearctic hare that is largely adapted to polar and mountainous habitats. Evolution ...

, and

Penydarren : ''For Trevithick's Pen-y-darren locomotive, see Richard Trevithick#"Pen-y-Darren" locomotive, Richard Trevithick.'' Penydarren is a Community (Wales), community and electoral ward in Merthyr Tydfil County Borough in Wales. Description The area ...

; some houses would be less than 40 m from the boundary of the site. In 1994 the scheme was revised to claim a larger coal reserve in line with government guidance, termed Phase IIIA. This was withdrawn in May 1999 due to access rights issues. Access rights were resolved by Miller Argent in 2003, and a new application was brought to Merthyr Council and the

Welsh Assembly The Senedd ( ; ), officially known as the Welsh Parliament in English and () in Welsh, is the devolved, unicameral legislature of Wales. A democratically elected body, Its role is to scrutinise the Welsh Government and legislate on devolve ...

. In February 2005 the Welsh Assembly approved the Ffos-y-Fran scheme, but the High Court quashed the decision after it was claimed by local residents that Environment Minister

Carwyn Jones Carwyn Howell Jones, Baron Jones of Penybont, (born 21 March 1967), is a Welsh politician who served as First Minister of Wales and Leader of Welsh Labour from 2009 to 2018. He previously served as Counsel General for Wales from 2007 to 20 ...

had made his mind up before the planning committee met. Mr Jones denied the claim and the Welsh Assembly took the case to appeal judges, who gave final approval of the scheme on 27 November 2006.

Scale

The Ffos-y-fran Land Reclamation Scheme is the largest of the original three phases and will restore derelict land, including the removal of known shafts previously associated with

iron ore Iron ores are rocks and minerals from which metallic iron can be economically extracted. The ores are usually rich in iron oxides and vary in color from dark grey, bright yellow, or deep purple to rusty red. The iron is usually found in the f ...

and coal workings, to finally complete the original land reclamation scheme. Statistics surrounding the site which include: *Phase III in total covers of land *Since 2002 the council have removed 58 burnt out and stolen cars from the site *200 people will be employed on the site, with an additional estimated 400 jobs created within the local area *The scheme at peak production extracted 20,000 tonnes of coal per week

Transport

Under agreed planning rules, the vast majority of coal that left the site was transported by rail. Extracted coal was moved from the mine and taken to be separated and washed at the sites Cwmbargoed Washery. Built in 1959 on land to the north and east of the railway connection to

Fochriw Colliery Fochriw () is a village in Caerphilly County Borough, Wales. It was well known for its neighbouring coal mine, collieries, which employed nearly the entire local population in the early 20th century. It lies within the Historic counties of Wales ...

, the coal washery was refurbished by Celtic Energy in 1992. In the summer of 2015, Miller Argent launched its state of the art coal washing facility on site - built at a cost of £10 million. The facility was built to meet demand for high quality Welsh coal by the Tata steel works site in Port Talbot. The washed coal was taken from site by rail along the former route of the

Rhymney Railway The Rhymney Railway (RR) was a railway company in South Wales, founded to transport minerals and materials to and from Colliery, collieries and ironworks in the Rhymney Valley of South Wales, and to docks in Cardiff. It opened a main line in 18 ...

. Joining the modern Rhymney Line just south of

Ystrad Mynach railway station Ystrad Mynach railway station is a railway station serving the town of Ystrad Mynach, south Wales. It is a stop on the Rhymney Line of the Valley Lines network. The nearest bus interchange is Blackwood Interchange, away. From 2020, the rail l ...

, the trains then traveled onwards via Cardiff and then west along the

Vale of Glamorgan Line The Vale of Glamorgan Line () is a commuter railway line in Wales, running through the Vale of Glamorgan from Barry to Bridgend, via Rhoose and Llantwit Major. Route The Barry branch starts at Cardiff West and runs to Barry Island with a ...

. In March 2017, Miller Argent sent its last delivery of coal to

Aberthaw Power Station Aberthaw Power Station refers to two decommissioned coal-fired and co-fired biomass power stations on the coast of South Wales, near Barry, Vale of Glamorgan, Barry in the Vale of Glamorgan. They were located at Limpert Bay, near the villages of ...

References

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