A Senedd Petition launched by Wrexham MP Andrew Ranger seeking stronger powers for councils to stop illegal waste dumping and settlements has reached its first milestone in just two days.
The petition – a reaction to two recent incidents in Coedpoeth and Minera – needed 250 signatures to qualify for discussion by the Senedd’s Petitions Committee.
But it achieved that within two days, securing almost 900. If it reaches 10,000 it will force a full debate in the Senedd chamber.
Mr Ranger launched the petition in an effort to persuade the Welsh Government to review the powers local authorities have to protect communities from land seizures and environmental damage following the widely criticised pace of action from Natural Resources Wales.
Councillors and residents of Coedpoeth have been critical of NRW after it issued a Section 59 notice to halt dumping on land off Castle Road and Talwrn Road in the village and remove all waste.
The notice was ignored by those dumping wagonloads of waste on the site and weeks later no enforcement action has taken place.
The community’s dismay was then compounded when dumping began at another site – off Nant Lais and Old Smelt Road on the border with Minera – only for Travellers to take over the site.
An interim High Court injunction by Wrexham Council to stop development and dumping on the site simply saw tipping activity transfer back to Talwrn.
Now Mr Ranger has taken the fight to the Senedd through this petition – which is available to view and sign at petitions.senedd.wales/petitions.
A second petition – proposed by Cllrs Anthony Wedlake and Kate Coventry and due to launch during a protest held at NRW’s Buckley offices earlier this week – was rejected by the Senedd for being too similar to Mr Ranger’s.
According to the Senedd website, the approved petition says:
“Communities across Wales are seeing land cleared, hardcore and waste tipped and access tracks created over a weekend, with no planning permission and no warning.
“By the time enforcement action can be completed the damage is done. Notices can be appealed, temporary powers lapse after 28 days and injunctions take time and public money that local authorities cannot always commit.
“Coedpoeth and Minera have suffered unauthorised works and illegal waste dumping on former mine workings near a protected landscape, with lorries tipping waste overnight.
“Even temporary stop notices have failed, showing planning enforcement powers are not fit for purpose. This pattern repeats across rural Wales.
“The UK Government has announced measures for England to shut down illegal waste sites including drones, more Environment Agency officers and sharply increased fines. Waste and planning are devolved, so the Welsh Government can match this and close the planning gap that lets such sites open in the first place.
“We call on the Senedd to urge the Welsh Government to strengthen planning enforcement, create extendable Stop Notices, remove the compensation risk and impose stronger penalties with powers to seize vehicles, cost recovery for restoration and a duty of co-operation between authorities, NRW and police.”
The rejected petition went further, asking Welsh Government to automatically escalate Stop Notice to injunctions if they are breached, stronger pre‑application controls to prevent development beginning without permission, the creation of Rural Protection Zones with enhanced enforcement, a multi‑agency taskforce to coordinate NRW, councils and police and mandatory environmental testing at any site where unpermitted waste is deposited.
Mr Ranger said residents from Coedpoeth are contacting him every day in despair that planning policy is failing to protect them.
“I am hearing daily from concerned residents in Coedpoeth and Minera about illegal dumping and changes being made to the landscape,” he said.
“In England, the Prime Minister has made changes to planning enforcement. This is something we need to see action on here in Wales, and the petition shows the strength of feeling on this issue.”
