Do the people of the Conwy and Lledr Valleys know what Gwynedd County Council are proposing to do with the millions of tons of slate waste in North Wales?
Go to Page 2 and latest update of Slate Waste Proposals >>

Slate Waste Action Group >> homepage for opponents to the transport of the slate waste.

Gwynedd County Council together with the Welsh Assembly Government support the transportation of slate waste from Blaenau Ffestiniog to Manchester and the West Midlands in England via the Conwy Valley Line.
While initially sounding like a very good idea to create jobs and to clear the waste on closer inspection it appears that what is to the benefit of Blaenau Ffestiniog and Gwynedd is to the detriment of the residents of the Lledr Valley and the Conwy Valley. From what information I have found on the internet the proposal is to move 8000 tonnes per day.
There are 730 million tonnes of slate waste in North Wales.
370 million tonnes around Blaenau Ffestiniog and Bethesda. And another 6 million tonnes produced each year. More Information >>
Welsh Assembly report 2001 >>

The initial idea was to move 8000 tonnes in 400 lorries PER DAY.This was deemed unacceptable and the plan to move the waste via the railway was born.
As far as I am aware there was no consultation with the people living in the Conwy/Lledr Valleys although there would be 14 extra trains per day each pulling 20 wagons. ( 7 journeys down the line loaded with waste and 7 journeys returning empty.)

When we add on the existing passenger train journeys it would mean that there would be at a rough guess 1 train per hour throughout the day and night.

Has there been an environmental impact assessment of the proposal?
Has Snowdonia National Park Authority been consulted?
Has Conwy County Council been consulted?
Why not use the original slate export route to Portmadoc via railway from Blaenau Ffestiniog? The railway is still available but does Gwynedd County Council think it not suitable in such an environmentally sensitive area?
The information I have been able to gather may well be out of date but I note that Gwynedd County Council voted 0n the 14 May 2003 to support the proposal and to apply for Objective One Funding for the project from the EU.

It seems to me that the old trick of presenting something really bad (400 lorries per day) and then replacing this with something more acceptable (the railway) has been used. However we must remember that there was no obligation to move the waste in the first place and that many people in the area accept and indeed like the existing landscape around Blaenau Ffestiniog.

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Latest news as reported in the Daily Post October 31 2003 by Robert Merrick..

The Strategic Rail Authority has promised to examine how cash can be found for rail strengthening work to the Rail Network in England to rescue the £46.6m plan to transport slate waste from Blaenau Ffestiniog.
The Welsh Assembly has already pledged to meet 75pc of the estimated £20m cost of upgrading the Conwy Valley Line. However the plan is threatened by a suspension of applications for freight facilities grants in England.
But following a meeting with Richard Bowker, the Strategic Rail Authority's chief executive, Elfyn Llwyd , MP for Meirionedd Nant Conwy said that "Mr Bowker understood the importance of the plan to the area and he promised that there would be a close liason with the Welsh National Assembly to ensure that the scheme to move the slate waste does not come to nothing"
Elfyn Llwyd continued "it would be very embarrassing for Mr Bowker if this does not go forward" and that the scheme would "green up the area".
This might very well be true for the people of Gwynedd and Blaenau Ffestiniog but it takes no account of the opinions of the people of the Conwy and Lledr Valleys and the aspirations of the Snowdonia National Park Authority to reduce carbon emissions by increasing the use of public transport.
The proposers of the scheme have already admitted that the increased use of the Conwy Valley Line by the freight trains will impact heavily on the public transport use of the line (being single track) and that the current passenger service will have to be seriously curtailed.
When you consider that there will be 14 freight trains per day using the line it is easy to see why the residents of the Valleys and indeed all the visitors to Snowdonia will have no option but to use private vehicles.

 

Welsh Assembly Report 2001 >> North Wales Slate Tips - A Sustainable Source of Secondary Aggregates?

News BBC.co.uk >> May 13th 2003

Gwynedd County Council Report 14th May 2003 :

Date: 14/05/2003
Gwynedd Council's Board yesterday pledged its support to the scheme to upgrade rail facilities in the Blaenau Ffestiniog area.The project has also passed the first hurdle in its quest for European aid by gaining the backing of the Gwynedd Economic Partnership at a recent meeting.Alfred McAlpine Slate Limited wants to use rail to transport crushed slate waste from its quarries in Blaenau to the construction industry in Manchester and the West Midlands.The company has applied for support towards a project to build a multi-use inter-modal rail freight terminal at Blaenau Ffestiniog together with loading, handling and storage facilities. The project also involves upgrading the Conway Valley rail line (Blaenau to Llandudno) to accommodate rail freight transport.The total value of the scheme is estimated at over £45 million and it's hoped that 49 new jobs would be created during the first two years of the project and existing jobs will be safeguarded in the slate industry in North Wales for the foreseeable future.The company also believes the scheme would be beneficial to the environment. Slate waste would have to be transported by road if the rail links are not upgraded and that could involve up to 400 lorry journeys per day. Alfred McAlpines Operations Director, Paul Charmbury, commented that “the project offered a unique opportunity which will bring economic, social and environmental benefits whilst supporting the long term future of the Conwy Valley rail line”

Railway enthusiasts website with independent projections of the necessary hardware >>

Conwy Valley Freight Progress from Jul 11 2002 Caernarfon and Denbigh Herald >>

Slate rail freight plan gets boost - by Emyr Williams

Ambitious plans by the McAlpine Group to construct an aggregate loading area and multi-use railfreight facility on land at Rhiwbryfdir, Blaenau Ffestiniog, came a step nearer this week. Area planning manager Mark Roberts told members of Gwynedd Council's Meirionnydd Area planning committee this week that objections to the development appeared to have been resolved. Mr Roberts said that since the last meeting in February, when the proposal was approved in principle, he had met with both company representatives and those who had lodged objections - including the roads division of the National Assembly - with the result that only one issue was yet to be resolved.

Members Cllrs Ernest Williams and Owen Edwards welcomed such news and proposed that once agreement had been reached on that issue that outline planning consent be released, subject to the agreed conditions. The development covers about 12 acres of reclaimed land which formerly comprised the Glany-Don slate tip, located between the A470 trunk road and Glanypwll Road to the east, the Conwy Valley line to the west and an unmade track to the south. The conveyance of slate and loading of slate aggregate would occur between the hours of 6am and 11pm, but there would be need for train movements off site until midnight.

A previous report to the committee revealed that reserves of existing tipped slate waste at the Oakley Quarry are estimated to be in excess of 100m tonnes and future production is expected to add an additional 2m tonnes each year. This equates to five or six outgoing trains per day. One train load would equal 40 lorry journeys. The proposed terminal would be designed with a loading capacity of 2m tonnes per annum. It is envisaged that up to 8,000 tonnes per day would be transported out of the site.

McAlpine estimates that the scheme will cost up to £28m, with potential to create a substantial number of jobs. The extra revenue to the area is estimated as being about £20m. It emerged last year that one major train operating company had expressed an interest in establishing and operating the freight service from Blaenau Ffestiniog along the Conwy Valley Line, thus securing the long-term future of the line.

If you have any more up to date information to add to this page please forward to me at hotelinfo@btconnect.com

 

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