, Climate Change, Environment, and Infrastructure Committee
Stage 1 scrutiny of the Disused Mine and Quarry Tips (Wales) Bill - Evidence session with the Welsh Local Government Association and Local Authorities
Diolch. Kevin, do you think, in that instance, that there should always be an in-person inspection, particularly if we're talking about coal tips? Should there be a distinction there in the Bill between non-coal tips and coal tips, that there should be an…
, Climate Change, Environment, and Infrastructure Committee
Stage 1 scrutiny of the Disused Mine and Quarry Tips (Wales) Bill - Evidence session with the Welsh Local Government Association and Local Authorities
Diolch. This is something that we've been bringing up in each of the evidence sessions. One of the differences between what was proposed originally in the White Paper and the Bill as it's drafted is how much is not going to be included, even in secondary…
, Climate Change, Environment, and Infrastructure Committee
Stage 1 scrutiny of the Disused Mine and Quarry Tips (Wales) Bill - Evidence session with the Welsh Local Government Association and Local Authorities
Diolch. Hi, again. I wanted to ask you about registering tips, please. The Law Commission has recommended that a comprehensive register should be set up of all disused tips, but as the Bill is drafted, it provides only for tips that pose a threat to human…
, Climate Change, Environment, and Infrastructure Committee
Stage 1 scrutiny of the Disused Mine and Quarry Tips (Wales) Bill - Evidence session with the Welsh Local Government Association and Local Authorities
Thank you, Kevin.
, Climate Change, Environment, and Infrastructure Committee
Stage 1 scrutiny of the Disused Mine and Quarry Tips (Wales) Bill - Evidence session with the Welsh Local Government Association and Local Authorities
Right, okay. In that case, Councillor Morgan, if you could hold that for a minute, I know that Kevin—
, Climate Change, Environment, and Infrastructure Committee
Stage 1 scrutiny of the Disused Mine and Quarry Tips (Wales) Bill - Evidence session with the Welsh Local Government Association and Local Authorities
Would it make sense, Cadeirydd—? I know that Kevin has indicated he'd like to come in as well, but, Cadeirydd, would you prefer Councillor Morgan to go into that now or to come back to that later?
, Climate Change, Environment, and Infrastructure Committee
Stage 1 scrutiny of the Disused Mine and Quarry Tips (Wales) Bill - Evidence session with the Welsh Local Government Association and Local Authorities
Yes, of course.
, Climate Change, Environment, and Infrastructure Committee
Stage 1 scrutiny of the Disused Mine and Quarry Tips (Wales) Bill - Evidence session with the Welsh Local Government Association and Local Authorities
Could I come back in? That's very helpful. That's exactly the kind of thing that we are keen to look at. With that potential ambiguity about the word 'serious' and where the threshold is, would any other members of the panel share that potential concern? And…
, Climate Change, Environment, and Infrastructure Committee
Stage 1 scrutiny of the Disused Mine and Quarry Tips (Wales) Bill - Evidence session with the Welsh Local Government Association and Local Authorities
Thank you, all, for that. I'm going to ask you about how some of it is framed in the Bill, and whether you think that the definitions are right at the moment, because, obviously, we could be making recommendations about what things need to be either…
, Climate Change, Environment, and Infrastructure Committee
Stage 1 scrutiny of the Disused Mine and Quarry Tips (Wales) Bill - Evidence session with the Welsh Local Government Association and Local Authorities
Thank you. Oh, forgive me—
, Climate Change, Environment, and Infrastructure Committee
Stage 1 scrutiny of the Disused Mine and Quarry Tips (Wales) Bill - Evidence session with the Welsh Local Government Association and Local Authorities
I wanted to ask—. So, obviously, there's a lot of work that local authorities are already undertaking, and there's a lot of work that's already happening with categorising tips, and you, as local authorities, have an oversight role. Why do you think this Bill…
, Climate Change, Environment, and Infrastructure Committee
Stage 1 scrutiny of the Disused Mine and Quarry Tips (Wales) Bill - Evidence session with the Welsh Local Government Association and Local Authorities
Thanks, Chair. Good morning to you all.
, Climate Change, Environment, and Infrastructure Committee
Stage 1 scrutiny of the Disused Mine and Quarry Tips (Wales) Bill - Evidence session with Coal bodies
Diolch. It is something that, at present, wouldn't be in the scope of the Bill, and I just wanted to ask whether you think that it should be looked at in the scope of the Bill. There have been concerns raised with us as a committee in the past about how, in…
, Climate Change, Environment, and Infrastructure Committee
Stage 1 scrutiny of the Disused Mine and Quarry Tips (Wales) Bill - Evidence session with Coal bodies
Thank you.
, Climate Change, Environment, and Infrastructure Committee
Stage 1 scrutiny of the Disused Mine and Quarry Tips (Wales) Bill - Evidence session with Coal bodies
Forgive me, sorry.
, Climate Change, Environment, and Infrastructure Committee
Stage 1 scrutiny of the Disused Mine and Quarry Tips (Wales) Bill - Evidence session with Coal bodies
Thank you very much.
, Climate Change, Environment, and Infrastructure Committee
Stage 1 scrutiny of the Disused Mine and Quarry Tips (Wales) Bill - Evidence session with Coal bodies
Thank you for that. That's incredibly helpful, but just to check that without those provisos, so if that extra resource and support isn't provided, then that tension could become very problematic.
, Climate Change, Environment, and Infrastructure Committee
Stage 1 scrutiny of the Disused Mine and Quarry Tips (Wales) Bill - Evidence session with Coal bodies
Thank you. That was very kind of you to point that out. Thank you. I wanted to check with Dominic, please. I don't dispute any of the points that any of you have just made, and I know this is a very complicated situation and it's nuanced. Dominic, you had…
, Climate Change, Environment, and Infrastructure Committee
Stage 1 scrutiny of the Disused Mine and Quarry Tips (Wales) Bill - Evidence session with Coal bodies
Don't worry, we're not picking on you. [Laughter.] Thank you very much, that's fine.
, Climate Change, Environment, and Infrastructure Committee
Stage 1 scrutiny of the Disused Mine and Quarry Tips (Wales) Bill - Evidence session with Coal bodies
Thank you. That's very helpful. Dominic, in NRW's written evidence, there's a suggestion that you've changed your position—or that NRW has changed its position—on the need for a new safety regime to ensure that disused tips don't threaten the environment by…
, Climate Change, Environment, and Infrastructure Committee
Stage 1 scrutiny of the Disused Mine and Quarry Tips (Wales) Bill - Evidence session with Coal bodies
Thank you. Rick, if I could check, and this may well be exactly what you were just talking about, I wanted to clarify: the terms 'serious' and 'significant', are they directly in line with your descriptors in your enforcement management model? Is that exactly…
, Climate Change, Environment, and Infrastructure Committee
Stage 1 scrutiny of the Disused Mine and Quarry Tips (Wales) Bill - Evidence session with Coal bodies
Right. I understand. Okay, thank you.
, Climate Change, Environment, and Infrastructure Committee
Stage 1 scrutiny of the Disused Mine and Quarry Tips (Wales) Bill - Evidence session with Coal bodies
If I could just come back, Carl, if that’s all right. Not all of the tips, of course, would have a management plan; it's only the highest risk, the ones that are already recognised as being the highest risk that would be there, although I may be straying into…
, Climate Change, Environment, and Infrastructure Committee
Stage 1 scrutiny of the Disused Mine and Quarry Tips (Wales) Bill - Evidence session with Coal bodies
Thank you, all, for that. To delve a little further into the detail of it, 'human welfare' is defined here as referring to serious damage, illness and disruption. Now, in terms of that term 'serious', do you think that that is well-enough defined, and will it…
, Climate Change, Environment, and Infrastructure Committee
Stage 1 scrutiny of the Disused Mine and Quarry Tips (Wales) Bill - Evidence session with Coal bodies
Thank you very much for that. It’s very interesting that you make that point about social justice as well; I’m sure we’ll come back to that. A number of changes have appeared between what was originally proposed in the White Paper that preceded the Bill, and…
