Around 800 people are set to gather near a controversial opencast coal mine this weekend for off-road motorbike races. The event near Ffos-y-Fran mine in Merthyr Tydfil has sparked excitement on social media as well as noise concerns from neighbours.
Planning permission for coal extraction at Ffos-y-Fran expired last year but the operator, Merthyr (South Wales) Ltd, applied for an extension. Although Merthyr Tydfil councillors refused the application for environmental reasons, the company continued mining — much to the anger of anti-coal campaigners. The council has issued an enforcement notice that means coaling must stop from June 27.
The 'Monster Mountain' motocross event will take place on Saturday and Sunday atop a huge mound of land which was removed from the mine site years ago so coal could be extracted. In a promotional video one of those involved in the project, Alfie Smith, said: "There's a coal mine probably a mile that way where all of this hill has been brought from, and it's been tipped here. We're on the top of it, so we're probably on the only flat bit of Wales, where we've managed to build a motocross track."
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Some locals are unhappy. When the mine operator first got planning permission for coaling in 2005, one of the conditions was that it would restore the former industrial land to green hillside as work progressed. This is yet to happen and a recent council meeting heard “insufficient funds” had been set aside to complete the restoration. For nearby resident Chris Austin, the motocross event is hard to stomach.
"We are incensed, obviously," said the 67-year-old retired software engineer. "To us, this is our land. This is part of Merthyr Common — latterly termed Ffos-y-Fran — which was temporarily stored offsite whilst the mining company extracted the coal underneath it. It was still our land and the mining company were and are obligated to put it back where it came from when they finished.
"The mine owner has sequestrated, annexed and appropriated land that doesn't belong to him for his own commercial gain. He's stuck two fingers up to the restoration of this land... Just to rub salt into the wound, one of the arguments that they used to leverage planning consent was that it would take the noisy off-road motorbikes off the hillside over east Merthyr. Now they are facilitating this activity."
But there has also been eager anticipation on social media for the event, which the council says is due to be attended by 280 participants and more than 500 spectators. Reacting to drone footage of the site, hundreds of Facebook comments have praised the "awesome" and "amazing" work to prepare the dirt track. In the promotional video Mr Smith said there were some "massive features", adding: "It's so vast we need to go big with it to pull everything in... I think when the bikes go round it you will realise how big it is."
Organiser MX Nationals UK says practices are expected to begin at 9am on Saturday. Races are due to start at 11am that day and 10.30am on Sunday but times "may change at the race organisers' discretion". According to the website, gates will close at 10pm on Saturday and 7pm on Sunday.
The motocross track is considered 'permitted development' which means planning permission is not needed as long as there are no more than 14 days of events per calendar year. The council said that although it had no control over the event as it would be taking place on private land, it has been liaising with organisers "from an emergency services perspective" and to avoid a backup of traffic from the site.
Mr Austin's wife Alyson, a 59-year-old bookkeeper, fears the event will cause a surge of noise and dust over the weekend. "We've no idea if these events are going to be held regularly," she said. "There's been no noise testing, no consultation, no public scrutiny. It's just happening and we've got no say in it."
NX Nationals director Neil Irwin said: "As the event organiser we have followed the normal event protocol to run our event which has included working with the local event safety advisory group. As an organiser we are running this event under the permitted development rights' [14-day] rule. To run this event we needed approval of the site owners and authorities which we have carried out. We cannot comment on any local issues."
A spokesman for the council confirmed it will receive no revenue from the event, which costs £20 a ticket. Mine operator Merthyr (South Wales) Ltd has been approached for comment. You can read more about the Ffos-y-Fran saga here.
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