Rebecca Evans MS, Cabinet Secretary for Economy, Energy and Planning
In December 2018, the then Cabinet Secretary for Energy, Planning and Rural Affairs, Lesley Griffiths MS, introduced a new policy context for fossil fuel extraction and with that the Town and Country Planning (Notification) (Coal and Petroleum) (Wales) Direction 2018.
Planning Policy Wales (Edition 12) contains the Energy Hierarchy for Planning which puts the extraction of carbon intensive energy minerals at the bottom. This means that priority should be given to energy efficiency and renewable energy
Planning Policy Wales also states proposals for opencast, deep-mine development or colliery spoil disposal should not be permitted except in wholly exceptional circumstances where they would need to demonstrate they are needed in the context of climate change emissions reductions targets and for reasons of national energy security.
The policy of Welsh Government is to bring to a managed end the extraction and use of coal. A Coal policy statement was published in March 2021 which was an important step towards that goal.
In order to ensure that the Coal Policy Statement and the Town and Country Planning (Notification) (Coal and Petroleum) (Wales) Direction 2018 are sufficiently robust, I am replacing the 2018 Direction so that coal, extracted from mineral-working deposits, including disused tips, will come within the scope of the new 2026 Direction.
From 7 April 2026, where a local planning authority does not propose to refuse a planning application for the development of petroleum or the development of coal including coal extracted from mineral-working deposits (including disused tips), the authority must notify Welsh Ministers to provide an opportunity to decide whether to call in the application for determination.