Caerphilly Council gives assurance over coal tips safety

CAERPHILLY County Borough Council has issued a statement reassuring members of the public about the safety of coal tips in the area.

It comes in response to recent media coverage around the risk of coal tips and landslips across Wales.

The Council assures the public that a robust categorisation and inspection regime is in place for all the authority-owned tips; of which there are 105 in total.

In the Caerphilly county borough, there are only 3 tips categorised as “Class D” which would be the highest risk category and these tips are inspected on a monthly basis.  The Council recently undertook a joint inspection with the coal authority on these sites and no major concerns were identified.

There are also 13 “Class C” tips in authority ownership and these are inspected on a 6 monthly basis. There are also lower category “B” and “A” tips that are inspected either annually or every 2 years.

Landowners have a duty to ensure the safety of privately owned tips, of which there are a total of 107 in the county borough.  The Council does, however, form a key part of the Welsh Government-led Coal Tip Safety Technical Advisory Group.  The Group was established to support the review of the Tips Act 1969 in partnership with the Law Commission, with a view to providing a greater responsibility for private landowners to inspect their tips in line with a common standard established across Wales.

Cllr John Ridgewell, the Council’s Cabinet Member for Environment and Infrastructure, said

“Residents can be assured that the Council has had a robust detailed inspection regime in place for the authority-owned tips for many years.  We can also confirm that there are no current safety concerns with any of the authority-owned tips in the Caerphilly county borough, but we continue to monitor them.”