THE COAL AUTHORITY
The Coal Authority’s output During 2022 to 2023, the Coal Authority achieved the following: 10,476 mine entry inspections carried out 770
mining hazards and subsidence claims investigated
The Coal Authority provides valuable support to manage the UK’s mining legacy
as people are engaging with the right processes in the right way, any risks and challenges will be established.” Key to the Coal Authority’s success – and that of builders and developers – is ensuring data is updated whenever new information comes to light. Which is why engagement between all parties is so important. “We have layers we refer to as probable workings,” Simpson says. “Based on our understanding of particular parts of the country, and our knowledge of the geology in an area and of particular developments that happened in the past, it allows us to draw an educated conclusion as to whether there may be a risk in a particular part that doesn’t have a record. “If we don’t have records in an area, but given the activity and geology nearby, we can know there is a strong possibility of a coal seam (dark, banded deposit of coal visible in rock layers) at seven metres beneath the surface, for example.” Simpson says the Coal Authority would then advise the developer to drill down to test the ground and feed back the information to the public body. “This way, the database is growing constantly. The more information coming in, the better the picture we can build – and all the information goes into our GIS system.”
Useful resources The Coal Authority: www.gov.uk/ government/organisations/the-coal- authority Planning applications: www.gov.uk/ guidance/planning-applications- coal-mining-risk-assessments Interactive Map Viewer: mapapps2.bgs. ac.uk/coalauthority/home.html a judgement based on their expertise. “Our responsibility is to manage the UK’s coal mining legacy. If someone is displaced from their property as a result of it, we take over the issue. We can categorically say nobody should ever be refused a mortgage or insurance on their property because it was built above coal.” Having this data-driven approach is essential to the long-term safety of people and properties. As Simpson notes, “If there were a new- build development, for instance, and we’d worked with the developer to ensure risks had been remediated, but in 10 years’ time, we have a subsidence claim, we can look back for the records and see everything was done to completion. Our public safety team would then establish what happened, look at the records and activity, and make
157,314 mining reports delivered 1,709 permits to intersect coal issued 10,236 planning consultation responses provided £56,000 generated for taxpayers from by- product sales £6.8m income generated through advisory services 122bn litres of mine water treated Source: The Coal Authority annual report and accounts 2022 to 2023: Performance report
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