Opencast Developments

Part of 2. Questions to the First Minister – in the Senedd at 2:45 pm on 14 November 2017.

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Photo of Carwyn Jones Carwyn Jones Labour 2:45, 14 November 2017

I can't. It's a matter for Merthyr council, of course. They have the responsibility for enforcement of planning. I have seen—not Ffos-y-fran—but I have seen incidences elsewhere, where opencast mining has finished, and still sites have not yet been restored. That is because, to my mind, of an issue with the bonds that companies were required to produce in the days when coal was privatised. There was, if I understand it, a limit placed on the bonds they were required to place, and those bonds are not sufficient to cover the restoration of the land in some cases. That is a historic problem, but it's a matter for Merthyr council to explain. I'm not aware of the circumstances why it is that they've taken the decision that they have.