Home > News > Public meeting on Opencast in Ponthenri

I am organising a public meeting at 6.30 on Thursday 27th July in the Community Centre in Ponthenri.

This is in response to residents’ concerns about pre-planning application talks between Carmarthenshire County Council and a company that has previously applied to carry out opencast mining on the former Pentremawr colliery site between Pontyberem and Ponthenri.

Nia explained:

“We have defeated planning applications for opencast here before and we must fight to do so again. Residents are very clear that they do not want all the noise, dust and dirty lorries that go with opencast working, and then there is the whole issue of flooding from the old mine workings, with the devastation that such an incident could cause. The site in question is far too close to houses in Ponthenri and Railway Terrace in Pontyberem and the school in Pontyberem. We have been led to believe in the past that some of this land may belong to Carmarthenshire County Council, in which case I would hope that they could refuse to sell or lease the land for this purpose, and stop the application before it even comes to the planning committee.”