The Coal Minerals Technical Advice Note (Coal TAN) gives comprehensive advice for local planning authorities and applicants. It will apply to both surface and underground coal sites.

Making the announcement, Environment, Sustainability & Housing Minister Jane Davidson said:

This new advice delivers a key One Wales commitment by the Assembly Government to introduce compulsory Health Impact Assessments for open cast coal applications, together with buffer zones which will now be set at 500 metres. It places an emphasis on planners and developers working closely with local communities.

It gives us an opportunity to make sure we strike the right balance between different interests and help ensure coal extraction is sustainable.

We have always said coal can play an important role in the supply of energy, particularly as Carbon Capture and Storage technology is developed. However, the quality of life of the people and communities closer to extraction sites must also be taken into consideration. As a government we want to ensure our policies and planning decisions maintain and improve the quality of life of local communities.

Commenting on the introduction of a 500 metre buffer zone, Ms Davidson added:

Including a 500 metre buffer zone policy is a significant step towards our common goals – planning for a coal industry that works with local communities, that respects the environment and, for the immediate future, continues to contribute to a secure, diverse and sustainable supply of energy and of coke for the iron and steel industry. We also recognise that coal working can be the best way to bring damaged land back to use, and sometimes, in exceptional circumstances, this will be closer to communities.

This means putting a high value on the well-being of the people who live and work in the Welsh coalfields, their health and every day amenity while at the same time recognising the value of our coal for energy, for steel, for employment and regeneration.

The funding will help get Prosiect Gwyrdd started. The Project is a joint initiative between five South Wales councils which will look at the best way to dispose of municipal waste that can’t be recycled or composted. The extra funding for Prosiect Gwyrdd will be up to £7.8m in a full year of operation depending on the final costs of the project.

The Cleaner Greener Communities project, is available to community groups this year within the Heads of the Valleys area.

Cleaner Greener Communities is a partnership project between Keep Wales Tidy, BTCV Cymru and Groundwork Wales, to encourage local communities to take responsibility for their own environment. This has been made possible through funding from the Welsh Assembly Government’s Heads of the Valleys programme.

As part of the project, small grants up to £1,000 are available for community groups to help cover the costs of insurance, tools, equipment, publicity and training in order to carry out environmental improvement projects.

In addition, a local Project Officer works with community groups to provide advice on their project and complete a successful grant application. This service is provided free of charge.

Examples of groups that have already received funding include the Cornerstone Church Project in Aberdare that received a grant of £740 for materials, plants and publicity expenses for their Community Allotment Project.

Some of the work undertaken elsewhere includes the clean ups of areas or stretches of rivers and removal of litter for community areas, practical improvements such as hedge laying and planting or biodiversity schemes like flower planting to attract butterflies or building otter holts along rivers

In Rhondda Cynon Taf the communities that come under the Heads of the Valley umbrella and are eligible to apply are: Aberdare East, Aberdare West, Aberaman North, Aberaman South, Cwmbach, Ferndale, Hirwaun, Maerdy, Mountain Ash East, Mountain Ash West, Penrhiwceiber, Pen-y-waun, Rhigos, Treherbert and Treorchy.

Joanna Friedli from Keep Wales Tidy says: “Any community group based in the Heads of the Valleys who would like to improve the environment they live in should get in touch.

“Cleaner Greener Communities is a fantastic resource for start-up and established community groups. The project officers offer a wealth of environmental and conservation knowledge together with expert help, training and advice free of charge, in addition, groups may be eligible for a grant of up to £1,000.

“Cleaner Greener Communities is keen to hear from anyone interested in volunteering to improve the environment they live in.”

For application forms and local project officer details please contact Joanna Friedli at Keep Wales Tidy on 029 2038 1733 or email joanna.friedli@keepwalestidy.org

The Cwm Ogwr Fach section of the Celtic Trail between Tonyrefail and Blackmill was officially opened by Bridgend AM Carwyn Jones.

The attractive traffic-free route near the entrance to Lakeside Farm Restaurant on the A4093 forms part of a trail stretching across the breadth of Wales.

The five-mile section follows the former railway line and parish road, and prevents walkers and cyclists having to drop onto the busy A4093 to continue along the Celtic Trail.

The scheme is part of the Celtic Trail Phase 2 Project funded through the Welsh European Funding Office.

At a Walking and Cycling and Conference in Cardiff, the Minister for Environment, Sustainability and Housing, Jane Davidson, said the Welsh Assembly Government would be investing £250,000 to train more than 100 instructors to teach the new standards across Wales.

The aim is to increase the number of qualified instructors that can deliver cycle training to a consistent standard that prepares children and adults to cycle on today’s roads.   Ms Davidson said:

The Welsh Assembly Government is committed to getting more people to cycle – as a form of transport; as a means of becoming more physically active; and as a way of getting out and enjoying our countryside.

We all need to reduce our carbon footprint, and cycling can help to make a real difference here – especially since the majority of car journeys are less than 5 miles long. With the cost of motoring on the rise, cycling is a cheap, healthy, and sustainable means of transport.

So I’m delighted to announce today this new initiative which the Assembly Government is funding this year to encourage more people to cycle.

The Cycle Training National Standards have already been adopted by a small number of local authorities in Wales, but the new money and the partnership with CTC – the UK’s national cyclists’ organisation – will help ensure coverage across Wales.

Working with the CTC Charitable Trust and the Sports Council, the £250,000 funding over three years will be used to get the National Standards adopted across Wales alongside the successful Bikeability brand.

CTC Director Kevin Mayne said:

We call Bikeability cycling proficiency for the 21st Century. It gives parents and children the confidence to make their daily journeys by bike under real conditions. We are delighted that the Welsh Assembly is encouraging more people to cycle. The funding will also enable us to employ a Cycle Training Development Officer who will be dedicated to supporting all the providers of cycling activities in Wales as they get more people on their bikes.

Ms Davidson said:

CTC estimate that around 10% of year 6 pupils in Wales receive some cycle training, but rarely is this undertaken on roads. We want to see this changed dramatically through a programme of work to get over 100 instructors trained in the National Standards who will then provide appropriate cycle training to schools and to adults. A new project officer is also being recruited to help co-ordinate this work.

The Welsh Assembly are considering the Appeal… If you wish your views to be heard please write in triplicate to:

The Planning Inspectorate,
REF A/07/2058755
Crown Building,
Cathays Park,
CARDIFF CF10 3NQ

BEFORE 1st MAY 2008

This will be designed to help member organisations achieve the investment necessary for them to be sustainable long-term social enterprises. Cylch has been working with the Assembly to secure this fund for the sector and are delighted with the outcome.

The fund will be used to provide suitable investment that will help the sector in Wales deliver waste minimisation, reuse, recycling and composting activities. In order to avoid any conflicts of interest the Cylch Capacity Building Fund will be administered independently of Cylch, following selection of a contractor by the end of March.

At an Energy Summit this week the First Minister said that since he last met delegates at the annual summit, the pace of change in the energy sector has continued to accelerate at European, UK and Wales levels culminating last week with the publication of the Wales Renewable Energy Route Map, the first to be published by a UK administration. Mr Morgan said:

The energy world has been a tremendously busy one, both at project and policy level, since we last met a year ago.

The key to our aims is to maximise Wales’ contribution to the abatement of global warming, not to produce a set of strategies that make the Welsh figures look good.

I am pleased to say that in Wales we have been equally busy meeting the tasks of securing our energy needs for the future.

It represents another big step by our small country on the path to making Wales a low carbon energy economy.

Expanding the production and use of low carbon and secure energy is one of the Assembly Government’s key One Wales commitments.

The Minister for Environment, Sustainability and Housing, Jane Davidson, told the Summit that the Assembly Government was unique in Europe in having a legal duty to promote sustainable development:

Tackling climate change is my top priority and I believe the Route Map, which I launched in Cwmbran and London last week, is one of the ways that we can achieve this.

Climate change is with us. We have to deal with it but we cannot tackle it alone. Everybody in Wales needs to be taking part in the consultation around the Route Map as this will inform our Energy Strategy which we will be publishing before the end of the year.

I was pleased with the warm welcome that the Route Map received and it is good to meet people at summits like this to exchange views with all the stakeholders so that we can get the strategy right.

There is no magic bullet for tackling climate change. The Assembly Government is determined to do all that it can to ensure that we:

• All stop wasting energy
• All invest in more energy efficiency in our buildings and processes
• Reduce the carbon intensity of energy generation as quickly as practicable.

Wales is blessed with the kind of natural resources – geography, climate, tides – which can reach 33 terrawatt hours of renewable electricity by 2025 – a level that is equal to electricity demand.

The First Minister outlined to the Summit the major projects that have been developing in the last year including:

• The LNG terminals in Milford Haven nearing completion
• RWE are completing major flue gas desulphurisation installations and boiler upgrades at Aberthaw power station
• Rhyl flats offshore windfarm has started construction – one of the UK’s largest.
• Consent for Welsh Power’s 800 MW gas-fired power station at Uskmouth and Prenergy’s 350 MW biomass at Port Talbot – the latter being the world’s largest biomass-fired electricity power station
• While Tower Colliery close other coal developments are progressing across South Wales and longer term underground coal gasification prospects are being intensively studied at Cardiff University.

Other renewables milestones include the Bluestone biomass project and the announcement of multi-megawatt tidal stream projects off Pembrokeshire and Anglesey.

An announcement is due shortly of the outcome on the Forestry Commission Wind-farm tendering process.