Glyncoch residents 'heartbroken' and 'angry' as Craig y Hesg quarry expansion approved

• Mike Griffiths reporting from the site of quarry

People living in Glyncoch, near Pontypridd say they're worried about their children's safety because of blasts from a quarry near their homes.

They are taking a petition to the Senedd to to stop the expansion of Craig-y-Hesg quarry and want new laws to be passed so this doesn't happen to another community.

Claire Allen has lived in Glyncoch her whole life and showed us this video of one of the blasts.

• Children at a nearby rugby club feeling the blast from the Craig-y-Hesg Quarry

"It was frightening. All our dishes moved. We have to prepare the children to not be scared, but they are going to be scared," she said.

"My child goes to school 134 metres from this fence. She'll go back end of August. They're going to start blasting in October, and my child has said to me, 'When is that school going to fall down on me?'"

Claire says others in the community are losing a part of their childhood as the mountain around the quarry is cordoned off.

"This mountain is a part of our childhood, and they've put a fence around it. It's ours, and it just makes me upset. Our lives have been put on hold because of this," she said.

Selena Young has also lived in Glyncoch her whole life. She says if the expansion goes ahead, the quarry will be within 158 metres of her house.

"I couldn't sit and wait for things to happen. It's just ridiculous that it's allowed to happen and I needed to know why," she said.

"Day to day we're aware of the vehicles. Commuting to work can be really difficult. When the quarry blasts you do feel it, and we have to deal with the dust from the crushing machines.

"People in the community haven't been listened to, it fell on deaf ears.

"I'm still not coming to terms with it. It's devastating. I used to walk my dogs along that mountain, and to go up there now and see the fence - it's gut-wrenching, it's heartbreaking to see. Where we used to play as children, the trees - they've all been taken down.

"I can see it from my back garden and I see it everyday and it really angers me."

The quarry has been there since 1885, but in 2020, its owners Heidelberg Materials applied for permission to extend the sandstone quarry from Rhondda Cynon Taf council, but were unsuccessful.

Operations were meant to end in December 2022, but the company appealed the decision, and the Welsh government approved the extension.

They now hope to extract an additional 15.7 million tonnes of rock at a rate of 400,000 tonnes per year until 2047.

A petition for a 1000 metre mandatory buffer zone for all new and existing quarries has over 11,000 signatures, and has received cross-party support.

Chris Whiles has lived in the area for 15 years and says it is losing a part of its culture with the loss of green space.

"It's us, it's Welsh culture. We're known for our mountains, for our luscious greens," he said.

"Whats heartbreaking is we're in the bottom 5% of deprived areas in Wales, so we do our best, we stick together, and they're taking this away from us - the little that we've got and they've ripped it from us."

He says since the expansion has begun, the blasts from the quarry have started to affect the community more.

"Years ago you wouldn't notice, you'd think something had dropped upstairs, but now it's shaking, the houses shake."

He shares others concerns for the safety of their children, and is conscious of other industrial disasters, not far way in the area's past.

"When you hear your child say, 'Is my school going to fall down?', what's the first thing you think of? Aberfan. And to us in South Wales that means a lot. "

Doug Williams has been a Councillor for Glyncoch since 2008 and is concerned for the health of future generations.

"I won't be around in 2047, when the quarrying is meant to end, but the youngsters will," he said.

"I myself have been diagnosed with COPD and emphysema. There's children in school with asthma - five, six, seven years old.

He believes that, because the area is an ex-council estate, it's not being valued properly.

"It probably wouldn't happen in affluent areas, they wouldn't allow it," he said.

A Rhondda Cynon Taf Council spokesperson said: “We refused planning permission to expand the quarry’s operation in 2020, and Hanson subsequently exercised its right to lodge an appeal against that decision.

“The Council’s decision was then overturned by Welsh Ministers, who granted planning permission for the western extension of the quarry.

“We acknowledge the concerns that residents raised and continue to raise – and have met community representatives to discuss these in more detail.

“As a result of the decision by Ministers, however, our role is now to monitor the conditions imposed on the planning permission. Our role includes monitoring air quality and enforcing the environmental permits that fall under our remit.

“We continuously monitor the site to ensure that relevant controls are being adhered to by Hanson. To support this, we have recently upgraded our air quality monitoring equipment in the area, to enable us to check compliance with national air quality standards.

Heidelberg materials, who own the quarry said: “Blasting, like all aspects of quarrying, is highly regulated, and the UK has stringent levels in place. Operating within these standards across all our quarries, means that quarry blasts pose no risk to people or property.

“The blast at Craig-yr-Hesg quarry last Monday (05 August) was carefully designed by specialists to minimise ground vibration. This was to mitigate impact on the local community and the low blast vibration levels subsequently recorded were well within the permitted limits.

“Air overpressure (AOP) can be responsible for the noise associated with blasts – and it is often the movement of air and not vibration that is felt. AOP is also carefully controlled, including for last Monday’s blast.

“The extension area was not previously public amenity land and was fenced off when tenanted for agricultural use. It only became more accessible in the mid-2010s when this ceased, and we took steps to acquire the land.

“Nevertheless, we understand that the area has been used for recreation in recent years, which is why our plans include the creation of a permissive path to the north of the extension area to provide pedestrian access from Glyncoch to the Lan Woods on the west side of the quarry."

The Welsh Government say they are "unable to provide any comment on their decision to allow the planning appeal for the extension to Craig Yr Hesg quarry, as under planning law, the decision is final. Local planning authorities have powers to investigate potential breaches of planning control.”

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