Flood damage blamed for site hole

The 20m-wide hole which appeared at Heol Gerrig in January

The emergence of a 16ft deep hole on the outskirts of Merthyr Tydfil has been blamed on flood damage.

The site owners had believed it to be due to the collapse of an abandoned mineshaft and said there was an earlier hole found back in January.

But council officials believe a partially blocked water culvert is the likely cause for the latest problem.

The hole, about 12m (39ft) wide, was found at the Merthyr Village site at Heol Gerrig just outside the town.

The site is known to have an extensive network of mineshafts dating from the 18th Century.

The Coal Authority said the area had been "extensively mined" and there were issues which could cause concerns. An investigation is ongoing.

A 20m (65ft) diameter hole was found there in January after rain but council officials said this was some way away from the latest hole.

Wyn Holloway, chair of Merthyr Village Ltd, which owns the site, said the latest collapse highlighted the increasing instability of the land and the risk it posed to public safety.

"In the past when the land was farmed there have been as many as 10 collapses reported in a year but now that the land is not in use there is no record of what is happening," she said.

"With the vegetation growing up, the site is undoubtedly more dangerous than ever.

If the cause of failure is not mining related it will be for the landowner to deal with any perceived hazard Merthyr council spokewoman

"Our fear is that it is going to take a tragic fatality in Merthyr before people start to acknowledge that proactive action needs to be taken to make this site safe."

Merthyr Village Ltd wants to make the site safe through remediation which would involve the phased excavation of the 500 acre site to remove any hidden mining hazards.

It has submitted a planning application to Merthyr council to do this work.

The firm's plans for a £700m regeneration of the land, including 2,000 homes, a shopping complex and a business park, was thrown out by the assembly government in January 2007 on the grounds of conservation, historical sites and town centre regeneration.

'Legacy issues'

The Coal Authority said: "It's an area of land that has been extensively mined and there are a number of legacy issues associated with that land which could cause public safety concerns."

Merthyr council said it would take no further action in relation to the hole, which has been fenced off by the Coal Authority, as it was a matter for the landowner.

A council spokeswoman said it was not believed to be due to a collapsed former mineshaft "but a partially blocked surface water culvert".

Several similar wash-outs occurring throughout the county borough during the storms of 5 September, she said.

"If the cause of failure is not mining related it will be for the landowner to deal with any perceived hazard as he sees fit and in the light of his liabilities as landowner," said a council spokeswoman.

"In the event that detailed research persuades the Coal Authority to the view that former coal mining contributed to the failure, they will no doubt deal with the permanent remedial measures in the same fashion as their statutory duty requires."

The spokeswoman said that the site of the shaft, which was treated in January, was some considerable distance away and remained in a "perfectly sound condition".