Appeal lost to halt expansion of last UK coal mine

Coal Action Network had urged the Welsh government to intervene to prevent further mining at Aberpergwm colliery

Climate activists have failed to convince the Court of Appeal that the Welsh government had the power to intervene to stop the expansion of the UK's last coal mine.

Last year, the High Court agreed that Welsh ministers had no right to overturn a licence first granted for Aberpergwm coal mine near Glynneath, in Neath Port Talbot, by the Coal Authority in 1996.

The licence pre-dated the powers over mining operations which the Welsh government gained in April 2018.

But the campaign group Coal Action Network went to the Court of Appeal to challenge the interpretation of the legislation after their bid for a judicial review failed.

Lawyers for the group argued that consent was still needed from Welsh government ministers for future mining operations, and they had to give their authorisation to the Coal Authority.

Coal Action Network had urged the Welsh government to intervene to prevent further mining.

They have previously urged the government to "put its climate policies into action".

But Lord Justice Lewis, sitting with two other senior judges to hear the appeal, agreed that the interpretation by the High Court judge last year was correct.

He ruled that the authority of the Welsh government does not apply to licences that had already taken effect before 2018.

The mine's operators, Energybuild Mining Ltd, has planning permission for the underground extension to Aberpergwm, covering 1,131 hectares, lasting until December 2039.

Coal Action Network claims that 42 million tonnes of coal could be extracted, releasing up to 120 million tonnes of CO2 into the atmosphere.

But legal advice given to the Welsh government said they could take no retrospective action to block the 1996 licence, a view now upheld by the Court of Appeal.