Campaigners have lost a judicial review bid to prevent the expansion of a controversial coal mine which would see up to 40 million metric tonnes of coal extracted by 2039. Aberpergwm Colliery, in the Vale of Neath, has been in operation in some form since the 1800s and the new plans would see conditions lifted from the licence for an area covering 1,131 hectares to allow for further mining.
The plans, submitted by Energybuild Mining Ltd in September 2020, were approved in January 2022 by the Coal Authority, the UK Government agency responsible for mines. The approval covered a full underground licence, for an area first granted a coal mining licence in 1996.
The Welsh Government said at the time that it did not support the extraction of fossil fuels, and Lee Waters requested the cancellation of the licence, but as the mine's original licence dated to a time before control over coal licences was devolved to the Welsh Government, it was powerless to act.
