Coal tips safety: Residents say lessons ‘not learned’ from Aberfan disaster
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.
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Evacuations after coal tip collapses
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.”
Dianne Morgan
‘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.
Map showing Cwmtillery, Aberfan and Cardiff in South Wales
“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.”
Brian Preece
‘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.
Stuart Adams
‘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.
Map showing locations of Wales’s category C and D coal tips
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.”
Cilfynydd Common coal tip
‘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.”
Counter-terrorism police are investigating after an incident involving a crossbow and a firearm left two women injured in Leeds.
Police were called to Otley Road at 2.47pm on Saturday to reports of a “serious incident involving a man seen with weapons”, West Yorkshire Police said.
Officers arrived at the scene to find two women injured – and a 38-year-old man with a self-inflicted injury. All three were taken to hospital, with the man held under arrest, but their injuries are not believed to be life-threatening.
“Two weapons have been recovered from the scene, which were a crossbow and a firearm,” Counter Terrorism Policing North East said in a statement.
The incident happened on the ‘Otley Run’ pub crawl, with one venue saying it was closed for the evening due to “unforeseen circumstances”.
Officers guard one of the crime scenes
Officers inside the cordon in Leeds
Counter Terrorism Policing’s statement added: “Due to the circumstances surrounding the incident, Counter Terrorism Policing North East have taken responsibility for leading the investigation with the support of West Yorkshire Police.
“Extensive enquiries continue to establish the full circumstances and explore any potential motivation.”
Home Secretary Yvette Cooper described it as a “serious violent incident” and said she was being kept updated by police.
“Thank you to the police and emergency services for their swift response,” she said. “My thoughts are with the victims and all those affected by this attack.”
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Wrexham AFC have been promoted for the third season in a row.
The North Wales-based side has gone from the National League to the Championship in just three seasons, under its Hollywood owners Ryan Reynolds and Rob McElhenney.
Wrexham were second in the table and had a run of eight games unbeaten ahead of their match against Charlton Athletic on Saturday, which they won 3-0.
Wrexham’s James McClean lifts the League One trophy. Pic: PA
Wrexham’s Dan Scarr celebrates with the fans on the pitch after Wrexham won promotion to the Championship. Pic: PA
It is the first time any club has been promoted for three consecutive seasons within the top five tiers of English football.
The third oldest association football club in the world, Wrexham AFC was bought by Reynolds and McElhenney in 2020, and has since been the subject of a Disney+ documentary, Welcome To Wrexham.
Reynolds, wearing a Wrexham sweatshirt, and McElhenney were pictured celebrating each goal, and after the game, as the fans came onto the pitch at the SToK Cae Ras (Racecourse Ground) to celebrate the victory with the players.
Wrexham co-owners Rob McElhenney (L) and Ryan Reynolds and Ryan’s wife Blake Lively, before the match. Pic: PA
Both stars came onto the pitch after the supporters returned to the stands.
Speaking to Sky Sports, McElhenney praised those behind the scenes, referring to “so many that don’t get the credit they deserve, people who aren’t talked about”.
Reynolds said bringing success back to the club “seemed like an impossible dream” when they arrived in North Wales in 2020.
Wrexham’s Sam Smith celebrates in front of the fans after Wrexham won promotion to the Championship. Pic: PA
He put the three promotions down to “the coaching staff, the greatest dressing room” and an “all for one, one for all” attitude throughout the club, adding he was “speechless with their commitment and their emotion”.
As for the mouth-watering prospect of another promotion to the promised land of the Premier League, the pair agreed it was “for tomorrow”, before ending the interview with a joint mic-drop.
Veteran striker Steven Fletcher said, “as soon as I came to this club, I knew it was something special. We want to go again. We’ll reset in the summer, take a break and go again”.
“It has been a success.”
Just Stop Oil (JSO) insists it’s been “successful” – as its members ceremoniously hang up their orange high-vis vests during a march in central London.
Since the group formed three years ago, it’s drawn attention and criticism for its colourful, controversial protests, which ranged from disrupting sporting events to throwing soup on Vincent van Gogh’s Sunflowers, and climbing on gantries over the M25. It sprayed orange paint over Stonehenge, and cost police forces tens of millions of pounds.
Those days are now behind it; to the relief of many.
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As a few hundred activists marched through London on Saturday, blocking roads as they went; taxi drivers blared their horns and football fans shouted abuse from the pavement.
The PA News Agency filmed the moment a white minivan seemed to drive towards a group of protesters blocking the road.
Protesters shouted “I’m being pushed back!” to police, while the driver could be heard shouting “What about my right to get home?” to the officers gathered.
But JSO never set out to be popular. And it believes its tactics – though hated – have been successful; thanks to the new Labour government’s commitment to not issue new oil or gas exploration licences.
That’s why, it says, its ceasing direct action.
JSO hangs up its high-vis jackets in central London on Saturday
A washing line of high-vis jackets signifies JSO’s disbanding
“This moment marks the success of the JSO campaign – our demand was to end new oil and gas licences and that is now government policy.
“As a result of which four billion barrels of oil are being kept under the North Sea. The campaign has reached a natural end.”
Dr Oscar Berglund, senior lecturer in international public and social policy, disagrees that JSO is disappearing because it’s been “successful”.
He told Sky News policing strength and public perception might have more to do with it.
“They have very low levels of popularity. About 17% of the British population are kind of broadly supportive of what Just Stop Oil do. And that’s too low to recruit.
“It’s difficult to recruit members to something that is that unpopular, and then that a lot of people for good reason I think have kind of stopped believing in that kind of disruption as a means to achieve meaningful change.”
Group triggers specific new protest laws
One thing it did change is the law.
Policing commentator Graham Wettone tells us: “Obstruction of the highway, obstruction of rail networks for example, these are specific offences now.
“It’s given the police more tactics, more methods, more offences they can consider, even stopping and searching somebody who may have something to either lock themselves on or glue themselves to something.”
A JSO activist holds a picture of an imprisoned colleague
Emma Smart was held in prison for her activism with both Insulate Britain and Just Stop Oil.
“The high-vis might be going away,” she tells me, “but we aren’t.”
“These people aren’t going anywhere, we are still committed, dedicated, terrified by the failings of this government and governments around the world.”
JSO activists throw orange paint at van Gogh’s sunflowers
Orange smoke set off by JSO protesters at Stonehenge
She hopes for a time of reflection before it returns in a new form but says the need for climate activism is stronger than ever.
She also believes that while most people dislike JSO tactics, it still raises awareness of the cause and might even push people to more moderate campaign groups.
Just Stop Oil came behind other, similarly controversial climate campaign groups like Insulate Britain and Extinction Rebellion, and as it says goodbye, its disruptive methods have been seized upon by other organisations like the Pro-Palestinian Youth Justice.
The infamous Just Stop Oil orange vests might be going away, but the individual activists, their cause and campaign tactics feel here to stay.
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