ENERGYBUILD LTD Planning Application for 25 year Life of Mine Operations Development at Aberpergwm Mine Environmental Statement – Volume 1 June 2014 Energybuild Ltd Long Term Development Aberpergwm Mine Environmental Statement – Volume 1 DATE ISSUED: June 2014 JOB NUMBER: CA10605 REPORT NUMBER: 003 Energybuild LTD PROPOSED PLANNING APPLICATION FOR 25 YEAR LIFE OF MINE OPERATIONS DEVELOPMENT AT ABERPERGWM MINE Environmental Statement – Volume 1 No part of this document may be reproduced without the prior written approval of Energybuild Limited. ENERGY AND CLIMATE CHANGE Wardell Armstrong is the trading name of Wardell Armstrong LLP, Registered in England No. OC307138. ENVIRONMENT AND SUSTAINABILITY INFRASTRUCTURE AND UTILITIES Registered office: Sir Henry Doulton House, Forge Lane, Etruria, Stoke-on-Trent, ST1 5BD, United Kingdom LAND AND PROPERTY MINING, QUARRYING AND MINERAL ESTATES UK Offices: Stoke-on-Trent, Cardiff, Edinburgh, Greater Manchester, London, Newcastle upon Tyne, Sheffield, Truro, West Bromwich. International Offices: Moscow, Almaty WASTE RESOURCE MANAGEMENT Energybuild Ltd Long Term Development Aberpergwm Mine Environmental Statement – Volume 1 PART A – INTRODUCTION ..................................................................................................... 1 1 INTRODUCTION AND BACKGROUND TO THE ES ............................................................ 1 2 DESCRIPTION OF THE DEVELOPMENT ........................................................................... 7 3 THE APPLICATION SITE ................................................................................................ 26 4 PLANNING POLICY CONTEXT ....................................................................................... 30 5 NEED FOR THE DEVELOPMENT AND CONSIDERATION OF ALTERNATIVES .................. 39 6 CONSULTATION AND SCOPE OF THE EIA ..................................................................... 50 PART B – ENVIRONMENTAL CONSIDERATIONS .................................................................. 55 7 SUBSIDENCE ASSESSMENT .......................................................................................... 55 8 GEOLOGY, HYDROGEOLOGY & GEOTECHNICAL CONDITIONS (UNDERGROUND AREA AND MWR) ......................................................................................................................... 72 9 HYDROLOGY AND DRAINAGE .................................................................................... 128 10 Land use and soils, including restoration and aftercare ............................................ 172 11 GROUND CONDITIONS OF THE CAR PARK ................................................................. 192 12 ECOLOGY AND WILDLIFE ........................................................................................... 210 13 LANDSCAPE AND VISUAL IMPACT ASSESSMENT ....................................................... 271 14 TRANSPORT AND ACCESS .......................................................................................... 336 15 NOISE......................................................................................................................... 361 16 DUST AND AIR QUALTY ............................................................................................. 386 17 ARCHAEOLOGY AND CULTURAL HERITAGE ............................................................... 451 18 MANAGEMENT OF WASTE GENERATED BY THE DEVELOPMENT ............................... 473 19 SOCIO ECONOMIC IMPACT ........................................................................................ 477 20 CUMULATIVE IMPACT ASSESSMENT – DEVELOPMENT PROPOSALS FOR ABERPERGWM MINE ................................................................................................................................. 493 Energybuild Ltd Long Term Development Aberpergwm Mine Environmental Statement – Volume 1 PART A – INTRODUCTION 1 INTRODUCTION AND BACKGROUND TO THE ES 1.1 Introduction 1.1.1 This Environmental Statement (ES) has been prepared on behalf of Energybuild Ltd in connection with an minerals and waste planning application for works undertaken at Aberpergwm Mine, located at Glynneath in the Neath Port Talbot County Borough. 1.1.2 The boundary of this application area is shown on drawing number CA10605/001. The application area is centred on approximate grid reference E 284800, N 208200. The Aberpergwm Surface Mine operations are located north of the B4242 and approximately 400m north of the A465 in a semi-rural area centred on approximate grid reference E 286585 N 206027. The village settlement of Morfa Glas is located to the north east (north of the B4242), Glynneath to the east, and Blaengwrach and Cwmgwrach settlements south of the A465. 1.1.3 In summary, the application comprises three elements as follows: A consolidation and time extension of existing planning permissions for surface development and operations at Aberpergwm Mine; Use of land for a mine waste repository (MWR), with associated haul road, to dispose of colliery mine waste and discard from coal preparation at Aberpergwm Mine; Extension to and development of the underground coal workings at Aberpergwm mine. 1.1.4 There are substantial reserves of high quality Anthracite Coal that can be accessed and extracted by underground methods from Aberpergwm Mine. Energybuild’s proposals are therefore to significantly develop and grow the mining business in the long term – i.e. 25 years and beyond. 1.1.5 To achieve this significant investment is needed to develop the mine. The investment will take place in stages. Initially it is dependent on having the security of a grant of 1 Energybuild Ltd Long Term Development Aberpergwm Mine Environmental Statement – Volume 1 planning permission providing for the extraction of circa 70 million tonnes of coal, the deposition of 10+ million cubic metres of spoil and having long term permission to operate surface mine plant/infrastructure. Future phases of investment will then be related to the progressive increases in mine output and the need for more manpower and infrastructure to enable increases in coal production and export. 1.1.6 The Company is planning for growth in the mine’s annual ‘run of mine’ output from 233,000 tonnes in 2014 to 1 million tonnes in 2019 and maximum output, at 2.5 million tonnes, from 2020 onwards. 1.1.7 The expansion of the underground workings will lead to a need for improved emergency egress from the workings. The higher levels of output from 2020 onwards may generate the need for additional/alternative transport infrastructure to assist with the intensification of the operations. 1.1.8 Therefore, there is the potential for Planning Applications to be brought forward in the future for: Potential re-opening of the existing Treforgan Colliery Main Intake and Main Return, and to use the drifts as emergency egress for the Aberpergwm Mine underground workings. Movement of mine waste to mine waste repository – potential overland conveyor; potential pipeline; potential to utilize a mix of methods in combination with use of an improved haul road. Coal exports – overall potential to increase movements of coal by rail, via Unity Mine Rail Head. Possible options for accessing the rail head – overland conveyor route; pipeline; overland haul route; or a mix of methods. 1.1.9 The Town and Country Planning (Environmental Impact Assessment) (England and Wales) Regulations 1999 require that, before consent is granted for certain types of development, an Environmental Imapct Assessment (EIA) must be undertaken. The EIA Regulations set out the types of development which must always be subject to an EIA (Schedule 1 development) and other developments, which are either to be carried out in sensitive locatons or those which satisfy a threshold or criterion in Column 2 (Schedule 2 development) which may require an EIA if it is likely to have significant effects on the environment. 2 Energybuild Ltd Long Term Development Aberpergwm Mine Environmental Statement – Volume 1 1.1.10 The proposal falls under the terms of Schedule 2, Part 2(b) Extractive industry, of the Town and Country Planning (Environmental Impact Assessment) Regulation 1999, for which EIA is not mandatory but depends on the scale and nature of the project. Due to the scale and nature of the proposals, Energybuild has submitted an Environmental Statement (this report) to support and facilitate determination of the planning application. 1.1.11 The purpose of the EIA process is to inform decision-makers and the public of the environmental consequences of implementing a proposed project. The EIA assesses the possible environmental effects of the proposal and identifies how those impacts can be controlled and/or suitably mitigated. The ES has been prepared to comply with the requirements of Part 1 of Schedule 4 of the Regulations, 1999. 1.1.12 In accordance with good practice and the guidance provided by the Department of Environment, Transport and the Regions (DETR) in Circular 02/99 entitled ‘Environmental Impact Assessment’ the Applicant has sought the Mineral Planning Authority’s (MPA) Scoping Opinion. To assist the MPA in their judgment a report was prepared which provided an outline of the development proposal and broad consideration of its likely impacts. The Scoping request was submitted to Neath Port Talbot County Borough Council in February 2013 (Ref P20130304). Although the scheme is reduced from that set out in the scoping request (which was for a larger scheme, including two land conveyors and the