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Aberthaw: demolition work passes first stage

Saturday, 2 August 2025 07:45

By Twm Owen - Local Democracy Reporter X @NewsatTwm

Geograph (Alan Hughes)

Cardiff Capital Region leaders say plans for a green energy hub in Aberthaw will need significant input from the private sector.

Cllr Mary Ann Brocklesby, who chairs the group of ten Welsh councils - including the Vale of Glamorgan - says the £8 million purchase of the former coal-fired power station will benefit its ambitions.

The region paid a £5.25 million settlement over how a contract to dismantle the site was awarded, prompting crtiicism from councillors.

But the group says it hasn't affected demolition work at Aberthaw, which has now completed its first phase.

CCR intends to develop the site of the former power station as a "renewable and green energy park".

“Aberthaw can be huge benefit socially as well as economically,” said Cllr Brocklesby who acknowledged “working our way through the procurement issues” which led to the legal settlement has been a “real challenge” for the region in its first year as an independent body, having first been a project established by the partner councils.

CCR chief executive Kellie Beirne said it has a “good relationship” with the National Grid on a “reconnection agreement” that will be submitted shortly for Aberthaw, which ceased operating in 2019. 

She also described Aberthaw, which is owned by CCR Energy, a limited company in which the capital region is the only shareholder, as a “key asset”. 

She added: “Apart from the two National Grid substations, there is 18 million tonnes of pulverised fuel ash we’ve drilled down nearly 27 holes, down to depths of nearly 30 metres, to be able to understand, a valorisation exercise, on that fuel ash that will hopefully tell us the mineral content, what it was used for and could be in the future.” 

Ms Beirne told councillors that the site has been handed back to the the region, who will be able to “claim things like land reclamation tax against that”. 

But she warned the group of local authorities won’t be able to fully fund the development of the site itself.

She said: “Will we be able to afford to do it all? No way. The cost will ultimately require significant private sector input. In 18 months time, when the demolition is complete, that is when we will be able to bring the full master plan together and start enacting some of the projects that we’ve spoken about in the past.” 

The CCR scrutiny committtee also heard that plans to harness the tidal power of the Severn Estuary are being progressed.

Proposals for a lagoon, that would be smaller than a barrage spanning the Severn - which has been previously touted but dismissed on cost grounds - were revealed in March in a report by the Severn Estuary Commission  

They called for the UK and Welsh governments to support the project though the commission was hosted by the Western Gateway Partnership, of local authorities in South Wales and South West of England, that was disbanded in June. 

But Clrr Brocklesby, who chairs the Cardiff Captial Region, who is also the leader of Monmouthshire council, said it is still working on the proposal with counterparts non only in the south west of England but also Liverpool. 

She said: “We’ve started to realise our relationship with the West of England Combined Authority and with Liverpool around tidal power, that is very exciting.”

Ms Beirne added: "There is a lot of work to build upon around the tidal lagoon opportunity as highlighted by the Severn Estuary Commission, that is something for us to keep building on."

 

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