{"id":238319,"date":"2025-02-13T19:31:58","date_gmt":"2025-02-13T19:31:58","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/2025\/02\/13\/coal-tips-blame-game-of-the-past-not-helpful-waless-deputy-first-minister-says\/"},"modified":"2025-02-13T19:31:59","modified_gmt":"2025-02-13T19:31:59","slug":"coal-tips-blame-game-of-the-past-not-helpful-waless-deputy-first-minister-says","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/2025\/02\/13\/coal-tips-blame-game-of-the-past-not-helpful-waless-deputy-first-minister-says\/","title":{"rendered":"Coal tips: ‘Blame game of the past’ not helpful, Wales’s deputy first minister says"},"content":{"rendered":"
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The deputy first minister of Wales has said the “blame game of the past” on coal tips is not “helpful”.<\/p>\n

Huw Irranca-Davies was visiting residents in Cwmtillery, Blaenau Gwent, on Thursday after the partial collapse of a coal waste tip in November during Storm Bert forced dozens to leave their homes.<\/p>\n

His visit comes days after Sky News spoke with affected residents<\/strong><\/a>, who said more needed to be done to ensure their safety.<\/p>\n

A coal tip is made up of waste material from coal mining, many of which have existed for several decades.<\/p>\n

The deputy FM, who is also the environment secretary, said it was “essential” to speak with residents directly.<\/p>\n

“I don’t think it’s helpful to get into the game of looking into the past and say who should have told who that there was a coal tip there,” he told Sky News.<\/p>\n

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Evacuations after coal tip collapse<\/span>
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Mr Irranca-Davies said he was “trying very hard here to avoid the blame game of the past” and accepted the Welsh government had some responsibility.<\/p>\n

“We have responsibility as Welsh government to do two things,” he said.<\/p>\n

“One is to make sure that we’ve got the quantum of funding to make coal tips safe, not just in Cwmtillery, but right across Wales<\/strong><\/a>.<\/p>\n

“But secondly to put in place the right statutory framework, so to bring forward the legislation which we’re doing now at pace.”<\/p>\n

The Welsh government has outlined proposals for a Disused Tips Authority for Wales, which would take on responsibility for coal tip safety in the future.<\/p>\n

He also welcomed the \u00a325m announced by Chancellor Rachel Reeves<\/strong><\/a> in last autumn’s budget to help ensure coal tips are safe.<\/p>\n

“We see that as a very welcome, but first, instalment, in a partnership of making good and safe these coal tips,” he said.<\/p>\n

“We need to keep this going across not just this Senedd<\/strong><\/a>, but for five, 10 years, decades ahead and keep on making these tips safe.”<\/p>\n

Read more from Sky News:
Former Real Housewives star reveals she has brain tumours<\/a>
Recording captures audio of Titanic submersible implosion<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n

A spokesperson for Blaenau Gwent Council said it carried out “immediate work” to rectify the slip.<\/p>\n

“We continue to monitor the site closely which includes twice daily visits during periods of heavy rainfall,” they added.<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n


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The deputy first minister of Wales has said the “blame game of the past” on coal tips is not “helpful”. Huw Irranca-Davies was visiting residents in Cwmtillery, Blaenau Gwent, on Thursday after the partial collapse of a coal waste tip in November during Storm Bert forced dozens to leave their homes. His visit comes days […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":238320,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"tdm_status":"","tdm_grid_status":"","fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/e3.365dm.com\/25\/02\/768x432\/skynews-wales-coal-tip_6821471.jpg?20250206163440","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[603],"tags":[10214,6573,4888,1749,50095,2124,19376,2172],"amp_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/238319"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=238319"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/238319\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":238321,"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/238319\/revisions\/238321"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/238320"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=238319"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=238319"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=238319"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}