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"Final transfer of property from British Coal"
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This bleak landscape is all that remains of a former phurnacite plant at Abercwmboi in South Wales. The derelict land highlights the range of environmental issues posed by the final transfer of property to the Coal Authority from British Coal.
The range of property involved is extensive and includes industrial and commercial sites, farmland, allotments and garages, former coal tips and even a reservoir with a fishing lake and a country park.
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Totaling 13,862 acres, the properties include 50 tips, 29 former industrial and commercial sites, 63 groups of allotments and garages and 50 areas of agricultural land.
"Major restoration initiatives are already underway at sites in many coalfield areas," says Albert Schofield, Director of Contracts with the Coal Authority.
Almost half the land is in the North East, with other areas in Wales, the West and East Midlands, Scotland, Yorkshire, Kent and the South, and Cumbria.
In promoting sound environmental practices when managing its estate, the Coal Authority has set a target for 1998/99 to ensure that its Environmental Policy requirements are extended to cover these residual properties from British Coal.
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"Unlike earlier transfers of land, some of these former commercial sites are likely to require remediation before development," says Albert Schofield.
"There are also pieces of land without serious problems associated with them, which British Coal was not able to sell before the transfer to the Coal Authority."
In formulating a strategy for the disposal and management of these sites, the Authority is faced with a wide range of environmental issues, from contaminated land at former coal tar plants to contaminated water running off former tips.
"We have now carried out a review of every site. We recognise that there are a number of environmental issues to resolve and are aware of the need to provide responsible management at these sites," says Aibert Schofield.
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| These pictures illustrate some of the environmental issues posed by the former phurnacite plant at Abercwmboi in South Wales. |
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The 91 -acre site is one of 29 former commercial and industrial sites in the final transfer of land to the Coal Authority from British Coal cover these residual properties from British Coal.
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