0001 Reclamation Scheme Environmental Statement
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Spring (Talywain) Ltd The British Reclamation Scheme Environmental Statement Black Spring (Talywain) Ltd The British Reclamation Scheme Environmental Statement April 2008 This report takes into account the particular instructions and requirements of our client. It is not intended for and should not be relied upon by any third party and no Ove Arup & Partners Ltd responsibility is undertaken to any third 4 Pierhead Street, Capital Waterside, party Cardiff CF10 4QP Tel +44 (0)29 2047 3727 Fax +44 (0)29 2047 2277 www.arup.com Job number 124039-00 Spring (Talywain) Ltd The British Reclamation Scheme Environmental Statement Preface This Environmental Statement has been prepared by Arup on behalf of Spring (Talywain) Ltd. It accompanies a planning application under the Town and Country Planning Act 1990 to reclaim the site of the former British ironworks’, Abersychan to facilitate its development for residential and business uses. Copies of the Environmental Statement can be purchased in a hard copy format for £100 or on CD for £50, by arrangement with Arup at the address below. 4 Pierhead Street Capital Waterside Cardiff CF10 4QP Please contact: Daniel Patterson ([email protected] ) Tel: +44 (0)2920 769139 Spring (Talywain) Ltd The British Reclamation Scheme Environmental Statement ENVIRONMENTAL STATEMENT NON-TECHNICAL SUMMARY Introduction profile, stability and safety, to accommodate future development and support local regeneration initiatives. Spring (Talywain) Limited, who purchased The British Site in July 2007, are preparing a Masterplan for the The earthworks reprofiling is aimed at creating a gently residential, commercial and employment sloping landform which serves as a transition between redevelopment of the site in line with the Torfaen Local the developed valley floors and surrounding uplands. Plan. The proposals will be promoted through two These works will replace the existing surface water applications, one for reclamation of the site to alleviate regime through the site with an open water channel former mining hazards, followed by a second which will become a permanent feature of the restored application for development in accordance with the site. Masterplan. A series of high quality coal seams sit beneath the This summary forms part of an Environmental northern plateau of the site and the shallow Statement which has been prepared to support the first mineworkings present a hazard to subsequent of these applications. It outlines the proposed development and existing users. A number of reclamation works, the main environmental effects, and alternatives were considered to remediate the mining any mitigation proposals necessary to reduce the features, including excavation and backfill or grouting adverse effects. of the mineworkings. Excavations were found to offer the most robust remedy by removal of hazards across a Site History and Background wide area. Drill and grout treatment is less suited to The site known as ‘The British’ is one of the largest large scale reclamation; it would have similar amenity Brownfield sites in South Wales at Talywain, impacts and would be less efficient in remediating the approximately 6km north west of Pontypool. The British hazards. site has been subject to over 200 years of despoliation by heavy industry including several collieries, an Where the coal is sufficiently close to the surface, ironworks and landfill operations. therefore, in the northern part of the site it will be extracted as part of the reclamation process; To the north and east, the site adjoins the linked simultaneously dealing with existing hazards, obviating communities of Golynos, Castle Wood, Garndiffaith, sterilisation of the coal resource and providing revenues Talywain and Abersychan. A disused railway to subsidise the restoration and aftercare programme embankment, up to some 14m high, crosses the Cwm for the site. Approximately 350,000 tonnes of coal may Sychan valley, isolating the south east part of the site be recovered this way. from Abersychan. To the south of the site is the settlement of Pant-glas and to the south east is a rugby On completion of bulk excavations, the workings will be field. backfilled and compacted to form stable development platforms. The restored landform will be hydroseeded in Buildings, surviving from the British Ironworks, are preparation for redevelopment. located in the central part of the site - the former offices/workshop and the Cornish engine house. They It is anticipated that the reclamation scheme will be are statutorily protected, along with other relict completed in less than 48 months and in three main structures. phases of site preparation, excavation and restoration. The rate of excavation will depend on the market for The existing landform of the site is varied. Presently, the coal product. much of the change in level takes place via steep tip faces between upper and lower plateau areas. Environmental Impact Assessment Underground mining took place at the site from at least An environmental impact assessment of the effects of 1826 and numerous recorded workings outcrop beneath the development has been conducted by members of or close to the site. the assessment team. About the Development Proposals Summary findings are presented below, concentrating Land at the British is allocated for redevelopment in the on the impacts likely to occur during the process of Torfaen development plan. The purpose of the reclamation. reclamation works is to generate land, suitable in J:\124000\124039-00\4 INTERNAL PROJECT DATA\4-50 Page i Ove Arup & Partners Ltd REPORTS\ENVIRONMENTAL IMPACT ASSESSMENT\0003 Issue April 2008 ENVIRONMENTAL STATEMENT\0001 RECLAMATION ES\0001 RECLAMATION ENVIRONMENTAL STATEMENT - ISSUE.DOC Spring (Talywain) Ltd The British Reclamation Scheme Environmental Statement The completed scheme will prevail for a temporary convey peak floods and this has resulted in period only, pending implementation of the Masterplan surcharging, over spilling, wash-outs and erosion for housing and complementary land uses. gullies. Ground and Groundwater Conditions A new surface watercourse will be constructed early in The site is underlain by Lower and Middle Coal the reclamation scheme to convey the streams through Measures which dip towards the south-west and contain the site in a new open channel designed to meet a number of coal seams and ironstone horizons which modern standards. It will flow sinuously through a have been mined in the past. green corridor and form a significant wetland feature. Flows from the new channel will be discharged off-site Glacial deposits overlie the solid strata consisting of via a new culvert constructed under Lodge Road before boulder clays and sand and gravel deposits; the surface discharging into the open channel section of the Cwm of the natural glacial deposits can be seen adjacent to Sychan Brook downstream of the site. Flows will be Farm Road and in the vicinity of Pant Glas, elsewhere, attenuated with flood storage being provided within they are masked by made ground. lower lying land in the vicinity of Big Arch. The main area of made ground lies within the northern The existing Golynos Watercourse would continue to plateau and comprises ironworks waste, colliery spoil function as a mine water drain and would not be and a 1960’s tip. disturbed by the proposed works. Reclamation will stabilise the ground, removing steep The primary impact would be permanent resolution of and eroded slopes, to be replaced by gentler gradients existing surface water drainage problems caused by the designed to acceptable factors of safety. In addition the antiquity of the existing site system. Coal washing and current hazards from abandoned mineworkings – shafts water treatment facilities are likely to be required and adits – will be removed. during reclamation scheme to safeguard water quality Some limited soil contamination has been found. Where in the Cwm Sychan Brook. Water will be treated in a such soils are to remain in place they will be capped to series of stilling ponds located within the southern part ensure that they conform to government guidelines for of the excavation, allowing water to be filtered prior to the subsequent proposed land uses. discharge to the realigned channel. The reclamation works are designed to have positive Landscape and Visual impacts on the ground and groundwater conditions at The site lies on the western, lower slopes of the Llwyd the site. During the works ground gases and valley, with ground levels falling approximately north to groundwater quality will be routinely monitored. south via steep tip faces between an upper and lower plateau. There are no designated landscapes within or Surface Water and Drainage close to the site. The Cwm Byrgwm Stream and the Cwm Sychan and Blaengaefog Brooks are conveyed beneath parts of the A disused railway embankment runs along the eastern site in masonry culvert systems constructed when the boundary separating the site, both physically and British Ironworks was developed. Culverted flows visually, from the urban areas located in the valley emerge at the toe of a steep, overgrown slope some floor. It carries a national long distance cycleway. 200m east of the site from where it flows towards The original natural topography over much of the site is Abersychan and its confluence with the Afon Llwyd. obscured by the residual shale and spoil mounds. This A mine water drainage roadway, known as the Golynos highly disturbed landscape of valleys, plateaux and Watercourse, passes beneath part of the site and scattered industrial ruins, regenerative vegetation and discharges to the Cwm Sychan Brook downstream of peripheral settlement forms a transitional fringe the site. It comprises an unlined roadway within rock, landscape between the uplands and moorland slopes to located at depths of 40m to 60m. the west and contrasting suburban character of Abersychan and Talywain to the east. Particularly in the The drainage system on the site is in a long neglected south of the site it has a feeling of being separate and condition.