Landslide staff 'threatened with prosecution'

The landslip was triggered by unprecedented rainfall during Storm Dennis

A council leader has said some of his staff were threatened with prosecution as they tried to deal with the aftermath of a major coal tip landslide.

Andrew Morgan, of Rhondda Cynon Taf council, said it was "absolutely outrageous" that two officers were cautioned by Natural Resources Wales (NRW) as they removed debris from a river.

Some 60,000 tonnes of spoil material slid down the side of an old coal tip at Tylorstown during Storm Dennis in 2020, entering a river.

Proposed legislation for dealing with disused coal tips, in the wake of the landslide, is being scrutinised by the Senedd's environment committee.

Morgan told the Senedd's environment committee that in the immediate aftermath of the landslide plans were being made "for the possible evacuation of thousands of properties", over fears the river would be impounded.

Once it breached, "we would have seen an uncontrolled, massive amount of water heading down the valleys, which would have put thousands of lives at risk," he said.

Emergency meetings were held with the police, fire service, the Welsh and UK governments, he added.

Morgan said the local authority had to "carry out urgent works" to remove the debris, adding that it had "the full support of the first minister and the prime minister".

Despite this, two officers were threatened with prosecution by NRW because they were "moving waste material," he said.

"To move that material we needed permits and some of the permits you have to wait a statutory period of 12 to 13 weeks for," he explained.

Morgan said there were issues relating to the "significant number of trees" that came down the mountainside.

"You have to have a licence and you can't have a retrospective tree licence," he said.

"Debris and trees had built up under a bridge in Ynyshir and blocked the river, and it meant the river came out into the streets".

Morgan said the removal of wood and trees also led to his officers being threatened with prosecution.

Storm Dennis caused disruption across Wales including in the village of Nantgarw where residents were rescued after flooding

"I said at the time it was absolutely outrageous that we were potentially facing a prosecution for eliminating a serious risk," Morgan said.

The council leader added "common sense prevailed" as the officers were not prosecuted.

But he stressed that this situation should "never arise again".

The Senedd's environment committee is scrutinising proposed new legislation for dealing with disused coal tips, in the wake of what happened at Tylorstown.

The bill will create a new public body - the Disused Tips of Authority for Wales - to manage tip safety in future.

But Morgan, who is also leader of the Welsh Local Government Association, said he was concerned the bill did not address what should happen in an "uncontrolled emergency".

A Welsh government spokesperson said: "The disused tips bill has been designed to work alongside and complement existing environmental legislation.

It added that a key part of the system will be "the development of management plans which will expect statutory partners to work together to plan for and to mitigate the impact of any urgent work."