Corporate report

Environment (Wales) Act 2016 Part 1 Section 6: The Biodiversity and Resilience of Ecosystems

Published 24 December 2019

1. Chief Exec’s foreword

Protecting the environment from the effects of past mining activity is at the very heart of what we do. As an organisation we feel passionate about making sure the role we play not only protects the public, but also enhances the environment and encourages biodiversity.

Our sustainability plan sets out how we’re going to achieve this and also explains how we help to deliver key government initiatives across Great Britain, including the Wellbeing of Future Generations Act in Wales.

We are committed to playing our part in tackling global sustainability issues. These include reducing greenhouse gas emissions, adapting to climate change, minimising waste and enhancing biodiversity. In mining areas we also want to work with local communities and businesses, and contribute to a better quality of life for future generations.

I hope you will find this update on our progress on biodiversity and ecosystem resilience interesting. We’re always interested in what you think of our aspirations, our work and our focus. You can get in touch with us by email, any of our social media channels or by writing to us.

Lisa Pinney MBE, Chief Executive and Accounting Officer, Coal Authority

The Coal Authority is making a better future for people and the environment in mining areas across Wales.

We work to:

Keep people safe and provide peace of mind

We provide a 24/7/365 incident service for coal mining hazards such as sinkholes and mine gas. We support those affected by historical coal mining and repair homes that have been affected by subsidence. We monitor and maintain historical colliery tips that are under our ownership to prevent slippage and impact to communities and can provide advice and expertise to local authority partners and other landowners in Wales on tip management.

We protect and enhance the environment

We treat mine water from coal mines to protect vital drinking water supplies and reduce pollution to streams and rivers. We use our skills to work with partners such as Welsh Government and Natural Resources Wales to also prevent pollution from metal mines.

We use our information and expertise to help people make informed decisions

We provide coal mining information and search reports as part of conveyancing to help maintain confidence in the housing market and we work with partners and businesses to help them make investment decisions and too keep the roads, railways and other critical infrastructure working.

We create value and minimise cost to the taxpayer

We are working to enable low carbon, low cost heating from mine water energy to heat homes, businesses, horticulture and aquaculture in Wales and to get benefit from other mine water treatment products previously treated as waste. This saves money for the taxpayer and helps us to be more sustainable but can also contribute to wider low carbon policy initiatives across Wales, Scotland and England.

The Coal Authority is based in Mansfield, Nottinghamshire and has regional teams located across Wales, Scotland and England to enable timely incident response, local knowledge and good engagement with local stakeholders especially in the devolved nations. In Wales our team is based in the South Wales coalfields and works closely with local partners and communities as well as being able to draw on specialist advice and support from our Head Office in Mansfield.

We are formally sponsored by the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy and currently receive approximately 55% of our funding from them with the remainder coming from licensing, advisory services, mining reports and other commercial services.

We have responsibility and powers to act in relation to:

• managing public safety issues resulting from historic mining including ground collapses, mine gas and water emissions
• dealing with water pollution caused by mining
• communicating coal mining information to the public
• licensing coal mining operations

In Wales we carry out the full range of our responsibilities relating to coal mining. We also work (on a funded basis) with Welsh Government, Natural Resources Wales and other partners to contribute to wider policy and operational objectives which are devolved. This includes using our skills and expertise to reduce and remediate the impacts of pollution from metal mines.

We own and manage 600 hectares of land in Wales including 26 colliery tips and 15 mine water treatment schemes. We support the planning system in Wales and in 2018/19 we were consulted on 1075 planning applications, provided comments on 111 pre-application consultations for major developments and responded to 37 policy documents.

We seek to consider biodiversity and ecosystems thinking in all our work and to plan accordingly. Our sustainability plan includes a specific objective to ‘minimise ecological damage and enhance biodiversity’ and is informed by the UK Strategic Sustainability Goals and the Well-being of Future Generations (Wales) Act. Progress against the plan is monitored by our Safety, Health and Environment (SHE) Committee and our Board.

The 2 areas where we can have the biggest direct impact on biodiversity and ecosystem management are in managing our own land and on our mine water treatment schemes which provide rich habitat and support local and national biodiversity.

We have included a short case study of each below.

2. Considering biodiversity in managing our land

Restoration works carried out by the Coal Authority in the South Wales valleys communities have included tree planting and habitat creation on numerous former tip sites including: Aberfan, Avon, Castle, Caerau, Cwmtillery, Marine, Ogmore, South Griffin and Tymawr.

The total number of trees planted by the Authority on disused tips is approximately 400,000, a large proportion of which have been within South Wales. The vast majority comprises woodland planting but also includes approximately 5000 trees in hedgerows along with over 40,000 shrubs, 20 hectares of heathland and around 500 square metres of wildflowers areas.

As part of our restoration schemes, where possible, the routes of former surface water culverts have been opened up to enhance visual appearance of sites and to encourage biodiversity, along with the creating of wetland habitats.

Following completion of environmental enhancements and landscaping works, all sites are subject to a 5 year aftercare period to ensure successful growth of planting and habitat development.

Many of these sites are now used as informal public open space amenity areas, being popular with dog walkers, cyclists and keep fit enthusiasts. A number of sites have been surveyed as part of the South Wales Colliery Spoil Bio-Diversity Initiative, revealing the importance of both restored and un-restored sites with regard to biodiversity.

3. Developing mine water treatment schemes to maximise habitat and biodiversity

Our mine water treatment schemes provide a rich habitat and their creation supports local and national biodiversity action plans, which is supported by research as well as our own experience. In addition to the open water environment, we have created 35 hectares of reed bed wetland habitat, with 8 of these hectares being in Wales.

Biodiversity assessments have been undertaken on some of our mine water treatment schemes, and from these we have developed case studies to show the impact that building them has had overall. The results are encouraging and show a positive impact.

In 2018, we received the final results of a PhD project undertaken by a University of Nottingham postgraduate student to look at biodiversity at both constructed and natural wetlands. As part of this research, biodiversity assessments were undertaken at our Hockery Brook and Taff Merthyr mine water treatment sites, looking specifically at mammals, stem dwelling invertebrates and moths to identify the number individuals or species present.

Both sites showed positive results, especially for moth diversity, which is a good indicator of the health of an ecosystem. Overall, the research concluded that biodiversity was similar on both natural and constructed wetlands demonstrating the value of our wetlands.

4. Nature Recovery Action Plan

4.1 Engage and support participation and understanding to embed biodiversity throughout decision making at all levels - Objective 1

What we have done:

• our commitment to biodiversity is clear in our sustainability plan we have published ‘Creating a better future from our mining past in Wales’ which includes a focus on wetland habitats, biodiversity and the natural environment
• the cost benefit analysis processes to determine what mine water treatment schemes will be built considers environmental (including biodiversity) and social opportunities and benefits alongside cost and operational aspects
• raised awareness of ecology and biodiversity across our organisation through training, blogs and articles which encourage colleagues to share their ideas with us

What we will do:

• report against our Corporate Sustainability Plan in our 2019/20 Annual Report and Accounts
• work closely with our supply chain and communicate our requirements through tender documents and regular supplier reviews to encourage our suppliers to share biodiversity best practice and be innovative in the work they deliver for us
• continue to raise awareness and provide training on ecology and biodiversity
• incorporate natural capital thinking into the decision making processes of our business to help biodiversity action and other environmental aspects become part of business as usual

4.2 Safeguard species and habitats of principal importance and improve their management - Objective 2

What we have done:

• as part of our environmental management procedures, we undertake desktop assessments of the historic and natural environment, including specific land designations and where appropriate carry out ecological surveys to ensure we are aware of our impact on flora and fauna
• we focus particularly on protected species and habitats of importance, in order to put in place management plans to mitigate any adverse impacts, such as working outside of bird nesting season or implementation of newt fencing
• we consider measures we can implement to enhance habitats such as installing bird and bat boxes and construction of badger sets
• we have plans in place for combatting invasive species where present on our sites
• we treat over a 100 billion litres of water every year, returning it clean to the environment and providing positive impact on biodiversity downstream in and of the receiving watercourse
• we have built and manage approximately 35 hectares of wetland habitat which have made a significant contribution to biodiversity action plans

What we will do:

• in developing our biodiversity net gain strategy, we will have regard to and incorporate actions to support local and national biodiversity action plans
• we will continue to review our operational plans on at least an annual basis to ensure that impacts from our operations on biodiversity are positive or mitigated
• on specific operational projects we will work with our partners and contractors to protect and manage important ecological habitats such as calaminarian grass land

4.3 Increase the resilience of our natural environment by restoring degraded habitats and habitat creation - Objective 3

What we have done:

• we have built mine water treatment schemes, including the construction of wetland and woodland areas, which are rich in biota
• we have re-vegetated former colliery tips and improved the natural habitat in South Wales

What we will do:

• we will continue to create habitat through our mine water treatment schemes and tip and land management programmes

Read further information on our coal mine water programme

4.4 Tackle key pressures on species and habitats - Objective 4

What we have done:

• our work in support of meeting the Water Framework Directive, contributes directly to helping return inland waters to good ecological quality, which directly helps alleviate pressures on species and habitats

What we will do:

• we will continue our work on meeting Water Framework Directive objectives working in partnership with other government agencies to get the best catchment based outcomes
• we will work with local and national stakeholders in identifying opportunities through our land portfolio works of enhancing habitats on our properties to reduce key pressures on species and habitats

4.5 Improve our evidence, understanding and monitoring - Objective 5

What we have done:

• we have funded research into the impacts of mine water schemes on biodiversity
• we have created case studies to evidence good practice from our research, such as our: Taff Merthyr mine water treatment scheme case study
• we learn through our work ensuring all our developments requiring planning applications and all mine water operations are assessed for biodiversity net gain, with habitat improvements designed in where it has a net sustainable development benefit

What we will do:

• we will undertake a review of operations and innovation ideas and published a biodiversity net gain strategy by 2023 to include identification of where we can improve our evidence, understanding and monitoring
• we will share our biodiversity net gain strategy and works through engagement with stakeholders including through published information on Gov.uk
• we will make our data available to others to use in improving knowledge and creating additional opportunities for enhanced biodiversity and sustainability

4.6 Put in place a framework of governance and support for delivery - Objective 6

What we have done:

• we have in place governance arrangements and systems for setting objectives, implementing, monitoring and reviewing progress in relation to sustainable development including biodiversity
• we continually review our sustainability and sustainability plan, including biodiversity performance and report monthly through our SHE Committee to our board

What we will do:

• we will develop our biodiversity net gain strategy and through our governance system ensure all the objectives are appropriately resourced for delivery
• we will define roles, responsibilities and timescales for activities to meet our objectives
• we will set specific actions to facilitate the achievement of our targets
• we will improve our reporting so that our biodiversity net gain strategy objectives have greater prominence in our sustainability reporting

5. Review of s6 duty

As part of the ‘plan, do, check, act’ cycle, our SHE Committee undertakes an annual review in relation to the performance of our SHE management system, which includes sustainability.

The review takes a holistic approach, considers progress against objectives, outputs from monitoring and audits, changes in legislation or government policy, and provides conclusions and recommendations to support continual improvement. This review includes our sustainability plan.

Our SHE Committee applies a healthy degree of challenge and rigour to the review to ensure that it properly reflects the status of the ‘SHE management system and that the recommendations are appropriate.