Coal tips safety: Residents say lessons ‘not learned’ from Aberfan disaster

Published

5 months ago

February 9, 2025

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Residents who live near disused coal tips in South Wales say lessons have not been learned from the Aberfan disaster nearly 60 years on.

Their comments come after a disused coal tip in Cwmtillery, Blaenau Gwent, partially collapsed in November, forcing around 40 homes to be evacuated.

A coal tip is made up of waste material from coal mining, many of which have existed for several decades.

Dianne Morgan, 68, has lived in the house she had built in the Cwmtillery ward for the last 10 years.

She told Sky News she didn’t know there was a category D tip – the most dangerous – behind her property, until the slip, which happened after heavy rainfall during Storm Bert.

“All we were told was underlying mines had been there. But there was no mention of a tip when we had searches at all,” she said.

“I’m not being funny, if I had known there was a tip behind me, I wouldn’t have built here.”

‘Got to be sorted’

There are 2,573 disused coal tips in Wales, according to Welsh government data – the vast majority of which are in the former coal mining communities of the South Wales Valleys.

Three hundred and sixty of these are in the two most dangerous categories and are monitored at least once a year as they have “the potential to impact public safety”.

Ms Morgan said she believes lessons have not been learned from the Aberfan disaster in 1966 when a colliery spoil tip collapsed killing 144 people, including 116 children.

A build-up of water within the tip after heavy rain caused it to suddenly slide downhill as slurry.

The tragedy is considered the worst mining-related disaster in British history and was more recently featured in an episode of Netflix series The Crown.

“The tip’s got to come down,” she said, but added that the authorities “don’t want to pay”.

“They think they’ll just drag it on and on and on and then people just forget, but you’re not going to forget are you? Because every time we have pouring down rain or if you hear a noise, you come out here and I have a check just in case it’s something,” she added.

“They all talk about they’re all broke, ain’t we all? But that doesn’t matter, it’s people’s lives you’re dealing with and people’s homes at the end of the day.

“It took everything we had to build this, if that came down and wrecked this, even if I wasn’t in it, we’ve got nothing.”

She said the slip before Christmas “could have been a lot worse”.

“Irrespective of who owns it, it’s got to be sorted…’cause you don’t know where it’s going to come down next’,” Ms Morgan said.

“We’ve got to have a surety that this tip is going to be seen to, and not only this tip but other tips for other people that could be in the same situation that we are, especially with the rain we’re having at the moment.”

‘Nothing getting done’

Brian Preece, 77, has lived in Cwmtillery all his life.

He told Sky News he “always played on the tips” as a child.

“We never had one inclination from anywhere in my life that them tips was dangerous,” he said.

“I played on them myself, my children played on them, my grandchildren, my great-grandchildren.”

He said that if a larger tip would have come down, his street “would have gone” and the tips needed to be taken “down to a safe level”.

“They’ve said they was going to do this, and they said they was going to do that, but there’s nothing getting done and everybody’s worrying now,” he added.

“The only safe way on my behalf, and I’m sure everybody else, is they should be dropped.

“Alright, they say it’s going to cost a lot of money, [but] they’ve got to drop it. You can’t put a price on children’s lives, on anybody’s life, and it should be down.”

Sky News has approached Blaenau Gwent Council for its response.

‘Nothing has changed’

In October, Chancellor Rachel Reeves announced £25m in the budget for the maintenance of coal tips in Wales to ensure communities are kept “safe”.

Meanwhile, the Welsh government has outlined proposals for a Disused Tips Authority for Wales, which would take on responsibility for coal tip safety in future.

But campaigners say the money promised to tackle the issue is not enough.

Stuart Adams, 65, regularly walks the tips at Bedwas and Cilfynydd.

Mr Adams is part of the Clear South Wales’s Coal Tips group, which is calling for action to make the tips safer.

“It’s ordinary people that are going to be affected if there is a disaster, or even a minor slip, which has just happened in Cwmtillery. They still cause masses of disruption for people,” he told Sky News.

“I’m no expert on the financial side of things, but clearly [the money’s] not enough to make these places safe.”

Mr Adams said the tip at Cilfynydd Common collapsed in 1939 and was seen as “a precursor to an Aberfan disaster”.

“Luckily no one was hurt, and no one was killed [in the 1939 slip],” he added.

“The same could quite easily happen again as nothing has changed with regards to the tips.”

‘First of its kind’ legislation

A Welsh government spokesperson said it had invested more than £100m in coal tip safety since 2021 “to ensure our coal tip communities are safe”.

“We have also introduced modern legislation – the first of its kind in the UK – to prevent disused coal and non-coal tips from being a threat to human life,” they added.

“The highest risk coal tips (category C and D) are regularly inspected by the Mining Remediation Authority (MRA) and we continue to work with partners across Wales to inspect sites, including additional checks during extreme weather.”

A spokesperson for the MRA (formerly the Coal Authority) said it continued to provide “support, expertise and advice” to the Welsh government.

“We undertake an inspection programme on behalf of Welsh government and other agencies, providing recommendations for maintenance requirements,” they added.

“We also continue to directly manage the 26 coal tips that the Mining Remediation Authority owns in Wales and provide management services to other landowners as needed.”

UK

Palace confirms dates of Trump’s state visit – as King and Queen to host him at Windsor Castle

Published

3 hours ago

July 14, 2025

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Palace confirms dates of Trump's state visit - as King and Queen to host him at Windsor Castle

The dates for Donald Trump’s state visit to the UK have been announced, with the US president due to be welcomed by the King from 17 to 19 September.

Buckingham Palace also confirmed that President Trump and first lady Melania will be hosted by the King and Queen at Windsor Castle.

It was expected that the three-day state visit would take place in September after Mr Trump let slip earlier in April that he believed that was when his second “fest” was being planned for.

Windsor was also anticipated to be the location after the US president told reporters in the Oval Office that the letter from the King said Windsor would be the setting. Refurbishment works at Buckingham Palace also meant that Windsor was used last week for French President Emmanuel Macron’s visit.

This will be Mr Trump’s second state visit to the UK, an unprecedented gesture towards an American leader, having previously been invited to Buckingham Palace in 2019.

He has also been to Windsor Castle before, in 2018, but despite the considerable military pageantry of the day, and some confusion around inspecting the guard, it was simply for tea with Queen Elizabeth II.

Further details of what will happen during the three-day visit in September will be announced in due course.

On Friday, Sky News revealed it is now unlikely that the US president will address parliament, usually an honour given to visiting heads of state as part of their visit. Some MPs had raised significant concerns about him being given the privilege.

But the House of Commons will not be sitting at the time of Mr Trump’s visit as it will rise for party conference season on the 16 September, meaning the president will not be able to speak in parliament as President Macron did during his state visit this week. However, the House of Lords will be sitting.

In February this year, Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer presented the US president with the letter from the King inviting him to visit during a meeting at the White House.

After reading it, Mr Trump said it was a “great, great honour”, adding “and that says at Windsor – that’s really something”.

In the letter, the King suggested they might meet at Balmoral or Dumfries House in Scotland first before the much grander state visit. However, it is understood that, although all options were explored, complexities in both the King and Mr Trump’s diaries meant it wasn’t possible.

This week, it emerged that Police Scotland are planning for a summer visit from the US president, which is likely to see him visit one or both of his golf clubs in Aberdeenshire and Ayrshire, and require substantial policing resources and probably units to be called in from elsewhere in the UK.

Precedent for second-term US presidents, who have already made a state visit, is usually tea or lunch with the monarch at Windsor Castle, as was the case for George W Bush and Barack Obama.

UK

Fireball at Southend Airport after small plane crashes

Published

11 hours ago

July 13, 2025

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Fireball at Southend Airport after small plane crashes

A small plane has crashed at Southend Airport in Essex.

Essex Police said it was at the scene of a “serious incident”.

Images posted online showed huge flames and a large cloud of black smoke, with one witness saying they saw a “fireball”.

A police statement said: “We were alerted shortly before 4pm to reports of a collision involving one 12-metre plane.

“We are working with all emergency services at the scene now and that work will be ongoing for several hours.

“We would please ask the public to avoid this area where possible while this work continues.”

It has been reported that the plane involved in the incident is a Beech B200 Super King Air.

According to flight-tracking service Flightradar, it took off at 3.48pm and was bound for Lelystad, a city in the Netherlands.

One man, who was at Southend Airport with his family around the time of the incident, said the aircraft “crashed headfirst into the ground”.

John Johnson said: “About three or four seconds after taking off, it started to bank heavily to its left, and then within a few seconds of that happening, it more or less inverted and crashed.

“There was a big fireball. Obviously, everybody was in shock in terms of witnessing it. All the kids saw it and the families saw it.”

Mr Johnson added that he phoned 999 to report the crash.

Southend Airport said the incident involved “a general aviation aircraft”.

Four flights scheduled to take off from Southend this afternoon were cancelled, according to its website.

Flightradar data shows two planes that had been due to land at Southend were diverted to nearby airports London Gatwick and London Stansted.

Essex County Fire and Rescue Service said four crews, along with off-road vehicles, have attended the scene.

Four ambulances and four hazardous area response team vehicles are also at the airport, as well as an air ambulance, the East of England Ambulance Service said.

Its statement described the incident as “still developing”.

David Burton-Sampson, the MP for Southend West and Leigh, posted on social media: “I am aware of an incident at Southend Airport. Please keep away and allow the emergency services to do their work.

“My thoughts are with everyone involved.”

Local councillor Matt Dent said on X: “At present all I know is that a small plane has crashed at the airport. My thoughts are with all those involved, and with the emergency services currently responding to the incident.”

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UK

Heidi Alexander says ‘fairness’ will be government’s ‘guiding principle’ when it comes to taxes at next budget

Published

17 hours ago

July 13, 2025

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Heidi Alexander says 'fairness' will be government's 'guiding principle' when it comes to taxes at next budget

Another hint that tax rises are coming in this autumn’s budget has been given by a senior minister.

Speaking to Sunday Morning with Trevor Phillips, Transport Secretary Heidi Alexander was asked if Sir Keir Starmer and the rest of the cabinet had discussed hiking taxes in the wake of the government’s failed welfare reforms, which were shot down by their own MPs.

Trevor Phillips asked specifically if tax rises were discussed among the cabinet last week – including on an away day on Friday.

Politics Hub: Catch up on the latest

Tax increases were not discussed “directly”, Ms Alexander said, but ministers were “cognisant” of the challenges facing them.

Asked what this means, Ms Alexander added: “I think your viewers would be surprised if we didn’t recognise that at the budget, the chancellor will need to look at the OBR forecast that is given to her and will make decisions in line with the fiscal rules that she has set out.

“We made a commitment in our manifesto not to be putting up taxes on people on modest incomes, working people. We have stuck to that.”

Ms Alexander said she wouldn’t comment directly on taxes and the budget at this point, adding: “So, the chancellor will set her budget. I’m not going to sit in a TV studio today and speculate on what the contents of that budget might be.

“When it comes to taxation, fairness is going to be our guiding principle.”

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Afterwards, shadow home secretary Chris Philp told Phillips: “That sounds to me like a barely disguised reference to tax rises coming in the autumn.”

He then went on to repeat the Conservative attack lines that Labour are “crashing the economy”.

Mr Philp then attacked the prime minister as “weak” for being unable to get his welfare reforms through the Commons.

Discussions about potential tax rises have come to the fore after the government had to gut its welfare reforms.

Sir Keir had wanted to change Personal Independence Payments (PIP), but a large Labour rebellion forced him to axe the changes.

With the savings from these proposed changes – around £5bn – already worked into the government’s sums, they will now need to find the money somewhere else.

The general belief is that this will take the form of tax rises, rather than spending cuts, with more money needed for military spending commitments, as well as other areas of priority for the government, such as the NHS.