The Coal Authority was established in 1994 as part of the privatisation of the coal industry. It is a non-departmental public body, which receives funding of around £30 million a year from DECC, whose ministers are ultimately accountable for its activities and performance. DECC approves the Authority’s strategy and board appointments, and sets its budget.
The Coal Authority employs around 160 staff and is based in Mansfield, Nottinghamshire.
The Coal Authority’s main responsibilities are:
- licensing. As owner of the nation’s coal resource, the Coal Authority issues licences to mining operators to explore and extract coal. It monitors licence operations and inspects all operational mines and opencast sites annually.
- repairing subsidence damage. If property suffers from subsidence as a result of old coalmining activities, owners are legally entitled to have the damage repaired at no cost to themselves or their insurance companies. The Coal Authority carries out these repairs. If subsidence arises from new mining, the private coal operators are responsible for repairing the damage. The Coal Authority also operates an emergency call-out system to ensure subsidence and other surface hazards in coalfields are made safe within six hours of being reported.
- treating minewater pollution. The Coal Authority also deals with minewater discharges from disused coalmines, removing contamination so the minewater can flow safely into our river systems.
- disseminating mining information. The Coal Authority provides property buyers in coalfield areas with information about mining features that could affect individual properties – for example, the location of old mine shafts or planned mining activity. The Coal Authority’s Mining Reports Service draws on a unique database of mining information and typically produces over 500,000 reports annually.
- property management. The Coal Authority also manages an estate of former coalfield properties transferred to it from British Coal. Most have now been restored and sold on but others, such as certain disused tips, are likely to require management in perpetuity.
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