Glyncoch voices 'haven't been heard' in quarry expansion controversy
Residents in the deprived village of Glyncoch are suffereing with quarry blasts less than 200 metres from their community.
Hello and welcome to The Valleys Lead.
Today, we’ve got a story for you from Glyncoch, near Pontypridd, about the expansion of a quarry less than 200 metres away from a small, financially-deprived village. Despite months of protest, the expansion started in 2024, and residents have said their health and wellbeing has suffered as a result.
The story is below, but first, we wanted to let you know we are hoping to continue to build a community of readers in the south Wales valleys, and you would be doing local journalism a massive favour by reading, and then sharing these newsletters on your social media feeds, or just sending them to people you think might be interested.
If you’re enjoying and/or finding these newsletters helpful and informative, we’d love you to keep joining us every week by subscribing (there are free and paid options). And if you want to receive our exclusive reporting in full, there is just a small yearly fee (more on that below).
Thanks for reading, and thanks to everyone who has been in touch thus far with story tips. Rest assured, if you come to me with a story, discretion can be guaranteed. We’d love you to get in touch at valleys@thelead.uk or via Bluesky or Instagram with any stories you might have for us.
If you haven’t subscribed yet, please do so below! We’d be over the moon if you financially supported local journalism by paying just a small yearly amount when you subscribe.
We’d love you to subscribe to support local journalism in the south Wales valleys (free and paid subscriptions available!).
If you want to support The Valleys Lead, it’s free to subscribe. Paid subscribers get a bit more for only £4.99 a month, or £49 a year.
It’s also free to share. And it would be a hugely appreciated if you did share The Valleys Lead with all your friends, acquaintances, and colleagues. Thank you!
The Valleys Briefing
(A little round-up of some stories in brief from our valleys.)
Nelson councillor Brenda Miles has resigned from the Labour Party, nearly a year after being frozen out after she objected to Caerphilly Council’s library closure plans. She said she had been waiting ten months for an appeal hearing she claimed should have been convened within two weeks. Miles criticised the decision to push ahead with cost-cutting proposals to close down ten libraries across the borough, and was promptly kicked off council committees and had the Labour whip removed. In a Facebook post explaining her decision to ultimately quit the party, she said delays to her appeal were “taking the proverbial” and had “dragged on for far too long”. Backers of the library closures argue the shake-up will lead to a better service for the borough’s residents, who will be able to access a wider range of council and other services at fewer “hubs” located in larger towns.
But critics say closing “vital” smaller libraries will cut off communities in smaller villages.
The race for the Senedd is on. The final lists of candidates in the south Wales valleys (and Wales as a whole) have been published, ready for the elections taking place on Thursday, May 7. Look out for The Valleys Lead explainer of representatives in each party in the next two weeks.
A petition to conduct a feasibility study with regard to reopening Nelson railway station has nearly 400 signatures. The petition’s author explained the reason why Nelson residents request a feasibility study: “As a first step, an option to create an express bus service to the nearby railway stations should be explored. The line, which was used by freight trains until recently, runs between Ystrad Mynach railway station and Merthyr Tydfil, passing through Nelson, Trelewis, and Bedlinog. Connecting Nelson to the network would make sense and would ease the pressure on our busy roads.” The petition has been briefly suspended in the lead up to the Senedd Election.
Glyncoch voices ‘haven’t been heard’ in quarry expansion controversy
Midday on Monday, residents of Glyncoch, near Pontypridd, heard and felt a blast from a quarry less than 200 metres away.
“The blast was horrendous,” Chris Whiles, a resident and father of three young children living in Glyncoch for the last 15 years, told The Valleys Lead. “But it’s nothing new. This has been an ongoing issue for years.”
When Chris moved to the small village, one of the 5% most deprived areas in Wales, he remembers often hearing a “rumble” and a “bang” accompanied by dust in the air.
He quickly came to find out it was coming from Craig Yr Hesg quarry, just a ten-minute walk from his house.
In 2022, Craig Yr Hesg quarry (in operation since 1949) was given the green light for further expansion by Welsh Ministers, after Rhondda Cynon Taf County Borough Council (RCTCBC) rejected the expansion twice due to concerns about the community’s wellbeing.
When expansion began in 2024, residents rallied together to protest against the expansion of the quarry, citing concerns that while planning regulations identified a buffer of 200 metres being a suitable minimum distance between quarries and residential areas, this quarry’s expansion would bring the work only 109 metres from the nearest property.
“The blasts would get bigger and bigger,” Chris said. “They’d be closer to our primary school (only 134 metres) and the rest of our community.”
Residents were scared about the toll further expansion would have on their mental and physical health, their homes, and their access to green spaces.
Before the expansion, Chris recalls going up into the mountains regularly. “There were huge, historical trees on the mountain,” Chris said. “But in February 2024, the operators started erecting fencing where we all go to walk, where the trees were. We haven’t got much here, so this green space means a lot to us.”
Residents set up a camp outside the gates to the quarry, not allowing operators access. “These protests lasted for three days, day and night,” Chris said. “It was a peaceful protest, but there was so much passion from the people there.”
An enforcement agency was hired by quarry operator Heidelberg Materials to issue warrants for protestors’ removal, according to Chris. “People were physically dragged off,” Chris recalled.
Fearful but determined, residents continued protesting daily. “The protests continued at the entrance making HGVs come to a standstill for ten minutes each delivery before being allowed in the quarry,” Chris said. “This was approved in person by South Wales Police who attended each day.”
But on 5 June 2024, the mining company “put out a 12-month injunction” to “unknown persons.” This injunction was renewed a year later.
In July 2024 a march was arranged to the RCTCBC head office in Pontypridd with over 250 supporters from the community attending with banners.
And yet, the quarry expanded, and so has the despair of residents.
“When there is a blast, windows are rocking, dust is everywhere,” Chris said.
Kids, including Chris’s, ask their parents: “Is my school going to fall down?”
“It has caused COPD and cancer,” Chris said. “But we can’t pinpoint it’s 100% caused by the quarry.”
Residents gathered samples from several locations for testing at a regulated laboratory, and revealed the samples contained crystalline silica, also known as quartz.
Heavy and prolonged exposure to respirable crystalline silica can cause serious respiratory diseases.
“All the lorry drivers have masks when they come in – they’re protected,” Chris said. “They have their wheel washers on to make sure the dust doesn’t follow when they come out of the quarry. But then you’ve what looks like a nuclear bomb – a mushroom cloud – going up into our village.”
Despite their concerns and their protests, the blasts continue in Glyncoch.
