Glan Lash Opencast Coal Mine

Part of 1. Questions to the First Minister – in the Senedd at 1:50 pm on 27 September 2022.

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Photo of Lesley Griffiths Lesley Griffiths Labour 1:50, 27 September 2022

Thank you. I am aware that both Natural Resources Wales and the planning authority's ecology officer have raised concerns regarding the proposed development, and those concerns are going to be considered, I understand, by the planning committee in due course. We have a notification direction in place that states:

'where a local planning authority does not propose to refuse an application for coal and petroleum development, the authority must notify the Welsh Ministers.' 

I think there's a bit of difference here. So, Glan Lash is currently within the planning regime, but Aberpergwm already has planning permission in place, so that's now being considered within the entirely separate Coal Authority licensing regime. So, the planning regime and the Coal Authority licensing place very different duties on Welsh Ministers, and the devolved executive functions are triggered by very different criteria, so I think that's the difference between the two.