After Glan Lash mine extension refusal, campaigners look to restoration

Woodland and hedgerows near Llandybie in Carmarthenshire would have been lost under plans to expand the Glan Lash opencast mine. On 4 June, Carmarthenshire County Council turned down Bryn Bach Coal’s second proposal to extend the site.

The company wanted to extract another 85,000 tonnes of anthracite, a type of coal, from a proposed extension covering just over ten hectares. The council cited the loss of woodland and hedgerows, risks to peatland and insufficient evidence about how the land would be restored and cared for afterwards.

Coal Action Network said in August that there were then no live applications for new coal mines in the UK. At Glan Lash itself, the campaign group is looking beyond the planning decision to what happens to the land already worked.

On 29 October, the group told Gilbert that, assuming there was no appeal, it was waiting for the operator to submit a detailed restoration plan to the council. When Gilbert checked the council’s register on 3 November, it recorded no appeal against the refusal.

Sources

• Carmarthenshire County Council, application PL/08275 and refusal notice.
• Coal Action Network’s August account of the refusal and its reply to Gilbert on 29 October.
• Good News Network’s original report on the refusal.