A local MP has asked for the UK government to improve the safety of coal tips across Welsh authority areas.

The number of unsafe coal tips has increased by over 50 since 2021 and there are now 350 dangerous locations across 14 Welsh local authorities.

There are 41 unsafe coal tips in Neath Port Talbot, 42 in the Bridgend local authority and five in areas covered by Swansea City Council.

Sioned Williams MS, Plaid Cymru Member for South Wales West, believes the environmental hazards left by mining are the legacy of the country’s industrial history which predates devolution, and causes anxiety for nearby communities, such as those living near East Pit in Tairgwaith.

She said: “Neath Port Talbot bears the scars of centuries of coal mining and quarrying. These are not just scars in the landscape, but the environmental hazards left behind have scared communities.

“The children of Godre’r-graig, in the Swansea valley, have had to be educated in portacabins in a school miles away from their village since 2019, due to the council's assessment of the risk of the quarry spoil tip to their village school.

“This has caused heartbreak in the community. These scars are also evident in the anxiety caused from living near disused tips, open cast mines and other post-industrial sites.

“I can attest to the fact from meeting with residents who live near East Pit in Tairgwaith, that this anxiety is real, weighs heavy on communities, and is unacceptable.”

At a Senedd meeting yesterday (May 8), Plaid Cymru called for the Labour Welsh Government to introduce laws to effectively monitor tips and former open cast sites to reduce existing risks.

Plaid Cymru spokesperson for Climate Change, Delyth Jewell MS added: “Welsh people deserve to feel safe in their homes and it is both astonishing and beyond all reason that Westminster still refuses to pay towards making these sites safe.

“Our coal made rich people in London richer, but all our communities were left with was the coal tips that litter our mountains: the gilts of dirt and dust.

“We in Plaid Cymru demand that Westminster must urgently pay towards making these tips and former industrial sites safe.”

The information about unsafe coal tips in South West Wales was collected by the Coal Tips Safety Taskforce in November 2023.