Planning
Planning consent for Phase III was granted in November 1988. However, local debates continued over the nature and scale of the development which will lead to the extraction of 10 m tonnes of coal over 15 years; as well as commercial concerns over the size of the coal reserve, together with access rights to the land. Protesters said that if the scheme proceeded, it would mean work taking place just a few hundred metres away from homes in the villages of Dowlais, Mountain Hare, and Penydarren; some houses would be less than 40 m from the boundary of the site.
In 1994 the scheme was revised to claim a larger coal reserve in line with government guidance, termed Phase IIIA. This was withdrawn in May 1999 due to access rights issues.
Access rights were resolved by Miller Argent in 2003, and a new application was brought to Merthyr Council and the Welsh Assembly. In February 2005 the Welsh Assembly approved the Ffos-y-Fran scheme, but the High Court quashed the decision after it was claimed by local residents that Environment Minister Carwyn Jones had made his mind up before the planning committee met.
Mr Jones denied the claim and the Welsh Assembly took the case to appeal judges, who gave final approval of the scheme on 27 November 2006
Read more about this topic: Ffos-y-fran Land Reclamation Scheme, Open-Cast At Ffos-y-fran
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