Nottinghamshire-based emergency service dealing with 1,000 mining hazards a year

A Nottinghamshire-based emergency service is still dealing with around 1,000 incidents a year related to the legacy of coal mining amid a major change in the organisation. First established in 1994, The Coal Authority exists to deal with the ongoing effects of the UK's coal mining past.

Issues dealt with by the Mansfield-headquartered company include stopping polluted water from old pits entering our drinking water and helping those living in coalfield areas with damage to their homes. To better reflect this work, The Coal Authority's name is now changing to the Mining Remediation Authority as it marks 30 years of service.

Lisa Pinney, the CEO of the authority, said: "We say that mining legacy exists in perpetuity. Our planning is done in 100-year periods at a time.

"A lot of the legacy will have to be dealt with over the long term and when particular schemes need to be built is something that we work on the detail of all the time. We react to incidents and provide support as we need to, but it's definitely a long term issue and something that the Mining Remediation Authority or something similar would need to exist to look after."

The CEO says that incidents include people in former mining areas noticing dips and cracks in their home and gardens, with a recent call involving a woman in her nineties whose wall was collapsing. The Mining Remediation Authority, which operates a 24/7 hotline, will only deal with incidents caused as a result of the legacy of coal mining, but will refer people to other authorities if it does not relate to former pits.

Repairs to damage will sometimes not be possible, with the authority sometimes having to buy people's properties from them to make it safe. As well as reports of damage, the Mining Remediation Authority says other reports from the public help to identify what is going on underground decades on from the closure of most pits.

Lisa Pinney said: "One of the really interesting things can be snow conditions. We often get reports of strange circular areas where snow won't settle.

"We can use that to identify collapsed mine shafts where there's a Tarmac layer over the top, for example, but everything else underneath that has collapsed. The heat is then just coming out of the mine and that is why that snow won't settle."

One of the many consequences of a coal mine's closure is that the pumps once used to keep water out of them are switched off and removed. That water level therefore recovers over time, picking up naturally occurring minerals such as iron along the way.

The potential therefore exists for this polluted water to enter our rivers, destroying wildlife and soiling our drinking water in the process. The Mining Remediation Authority therefore has more than 80 mine water treatment schemes across the country, with the programme soon set to come to Nottinghamshire.

Yet the issue also presents an opportunity for future energy generation. Lisa Pinney said: "We've got all of these mine workings underneath our feet in so much of the of the country - 25% of Great Britain is on the coalfield. These workings fill up with water, that's why we need to treat it to prevent it from causing pollution, but actually that water is bringing in heat from the rocks around it all the time.

"It's actually at a kind of constant temperature underneath. What we can do is to use that for district heating schemes to provide really low carbon heating in homes, which is really exciting."

The last financial year saw the Mining Remediation Authority carrying out nearly 10,500 mine entry inspections, investigating almost 900 mining hazards and subsidence claims and carrying out 823 tip inspections. The authority, which now has capacity to treat 231 billion litres of mine water a year, is marking the launch of its government-approved name change at a ceremony on Thursday (November 28) attended by figures including Mansfield MP Steve Yemm.

The authority's CEO added: "Most people will never have a problem, but it's really important they know that if they do or they have a concern that they can come to us and we can help. Our hazard line operates 24/7, we're a 24/7 emergency response organization." The Mining Remediation Authority's 24/7 mining hazard line can be reached by calling 0800 288 4242.