Wales: Plans for six million tonne coal mine persist despite community objections
Last summer, thousands of supporters of Friends of the Earth England, Wales and Northern Ireland helped Alyson and Chris Austin block the opening of a six million tonne coal mine in their community. Coal company Miller Argent wants to dig up six million tonnes of coal at Nant Llesg, in south Wales.
For over a decade, the tight knit community of Merthyr Tydfil in south Wales has been fighting tirelessly against opencast coal mining – huge open pits that scar the landscape and massive earth moving machinery that raises large quantities of dust into the air, damaging the environment and local people’s health. Community campaigners achieved their biggest victory in August, 2015, defeating plans for a controversial new coal mine that would have caused massive amounts of pollution for decades to come.
Now Miller Argent has appealed the decision. The company is going over the heads of the community and local council to the Planning Inspectorate – a national body far removed from the local area.
Its first step is putting up a 5-kilometre fence around common land to clear the way for their massive opencast coal mine.
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