A councillor is urging residents to have their say on plans to mine six million tonnes of coal at the top of the Rhymney Valley.
Company Miller Argent has submitted a planning application for the open cast mine and has said up to 239 jobs could be created at Nant Llesg.
The proposed site is located on 478 hectares of land to the west of Rhymney, north of Fochriw and south of the A465 Heads of the Valleys Road.
Caerphilly County Borough Council will hold a series of exhibitions this month to display a selection of the plans and information submitted by Miller Argent.
Councillor Carl Cuss, who represents the Twyn Carno ward, has said residents have already expressed concerns at the plans.
He said: “Over the past few weeks, I have received telephone calls, emails and letters about this application. Local concerns which have been brought to my attention are noise levels, dust, the visual impact, local businesses may go, loss of jobs and the possible effect on the local housing market.”
Cosmetics firm Richards & Appleby said it would move manufacturing if the mine came into use. The company neighbours the site and employs 140 people. It supplies products to Harrods and John Lewis.
Cllr Cuss added: “The loss of this factory in the locality could affect the levels of deprivation in the area due to the amount of local people they employ and will therefore lose their jobs.
“I feel a proper debate about the merits of this application needs to take place and for the community to have a greater say, as we will have to visualise this for several years.
“I will be holding advice surgeries at Ael y Bryn Community Centre, Rhymney for residents of the Twyn Carno ward to come to discuss this particular planning application or if you would like to discuss other local ward issues.”
The surgeries will take place on Friday November 22 between 4.30pm and 6pm and Friday December 6 between 4.30pm and 6pm.”
Exhibitions by Caerphilly County Borough Council on the plans will take place between 4pm and 7pm at Abertysswg Community Centre on Tuesday November 19; Rhymney Community Centre on Wednesday November 20; Fochriw Community Centre on Tuesday November 26 and Elim Community Church Hall, Waterloo Terrace, Pontlottyn on Thursday November 28.
There will be an opportunity for local people to view the application and to discuss the proposals with officers of the council.
Some great news! Jobs and development at last.
Economically it is good for Wales as a whole. It should go ahead regardless of opposition from the eco-nutters at Greenpeace.
Don't believe the previous two comments are from people living in the area affected. There will be no jobs created, just noise and dust pollution, to the detriment of the health of the community. Houses will also be devalued, and if this application is granted it will set this valley back thirty years!
'Set the valleys back 30 years'.
Hang on – this is the area which people moan that Mrs Thatcher closed the pits. Destroyed the community, removed jobs. "It's a pitty the pits weren't open again. Those were the days blah blah blah"
No mining is back and the lazy people of Rhymney don't want it!
What a joke
Any further open cast coal mining in the upper Rhymney and Darran Valleys will set the possibility of developing the area for clean industries back Twenty years. The coal produced at that mine will not be required in the long term, there is a massive glut of coal on the World market mostly produced by in U.S.A. This glut as been created by the development of Gas fields made possible by the fracking process, this system will soon be engaged in the development of the South Wales coal shale fields, there is an estimated Trillion cubic square foot of Gas available for exploration in this one area alone, the recovery of shale gas leaves no surface scar that would mark the landscape for decades to come.
This area of Gelligaer Common is the only place in the World that has connections to the legends of King Arthur with sites that can still be seen and visited today, There is a 5th Century standing stone that has the name Dubricius carved on its side, Dubricius is the Latin name for Saint Dyfrig the man who crowned Arthur King in Caerleon in the 5th/6centurys.This site and others that have historical connections to the Arthurian legends can produce hundreds of full time and seasonal jobs for several decades and more into the future, generating up to 28 million pound annually into the local economy, the potential for the economic development of the northern Valleys area, The future prosperity of Rhymney/Pontlottyn/Fochriw and Cwm Darran lies in the hands of Caerphilly County borough Council planning Authority, we must judge them on their decision on this planning application and the long term affects that, that decision will have on the long term local economy
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