Wales and coal have always gone hand in hand. For centuries, we were one of the biggest exporters of so called black gold anywhere on the planet, but that money rarely stayed in Wales. What did stay in Wales were the scars left behind, nowadays in the form of coal tips dotted around Wales, many of which are at risk of slipping. The Welsh government are calling on Westminster to pay to fix this.
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00:00 The Welsh Government has received millions of pounds from the UK Government to tackle
00:04 the many disused coal tips that we have. So when can we expect to see the Welsh Government
00:08 finally take action and bring forward coal tip safety legislation here in the Welsh Parliament?
00:13 Well, Tawedd, that legislation will come in front of the Senedd next year. It will go
00:19 broader than coal tip safety because it will look at the many other forms of disused tips
00:26 which unfortunately are characteristic of Wales's participation in the industrial revolution
00:32 and in the case of metal mines going back many centuries prior to that as well. The
00:40 Welsh Government has not, Tawedd, received millions of pounds from the UK Government
00:44 for remediation. Nothing of the sort.
00:49 Wales and coal have been said in the same breath for centuries. It's been at the centre
00:52 of our history. But politicians in the Senedd argue that the massive amounts of wealth created
00:57 from the coal industry here in Wales went straight to London and around the world, leaving
01:02 behind just the clean-up and dangerous coal tips dotted around the country. With so much
01:06 wealth leaving Wales and so much natural destruction staying here in Wales, as far as they're
01:12 concerned, it's time for the UK Government to pay their fair share.
01:15 These are a daily visual reminder of how we've been exploited, how our communities often
01:20 paid a deadly price for coal, and while the wealth was shipped straight out of these shores,
01:26 the muck and the dirt was dumped on our hillsides to blot our skylines. Can you tell me, please,
01:32 what stage your Government has reached in discussions with the UK Government about them
01:36 paying towards righting this wrong that, as you say, was made decades before devolution
01:42 began? These coal tips are a legacy of the negligence and disdain of Westminster Governments
01:48 for our valleys. They need to pay to clear them.
01:54 Our First Minister agrees and thinks that it's the responsibility of the UK Government
01:57 to make right the wrongs of the past and help fund fixing the dangerous coal tips dotted
02:02 all around the country. Mark Drakeford does say, though, that the Welsh Government will
02:06 help and has put aside over £40 million for the project.
02:09 Well, I certainly agree with Gareth Jewell, Llywydd, that the history of Wales is one
02:16 of the exploitation of our natural resources, where not only coal was extracted but wealth
02:23 was extracted and taken far beyond the shores of Wales, leaving the communities who produced
02:29 that wealth behind and to deal with the consequences. That is why the Member is absolutely right,
02:37 Llywydd, that there is an obligation on the UK Government to assist in putting right the
02:45 wrongs of the past.
02:48 Coal has had a lasting impact on Wales, both positive and negative. It's part of what's
02:52 made Wales Wales, but it's also had a massive detrimental impact on our environment across
02:57 the country and there's hope the UK Government will make right the wrongs and help pay for
03:01 the clean-up.
03:02 James P. Twotkins, Local TV.
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