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Plans to mine 95,000 tonnes of coal from an opencast site creating 11 jobs have been rejected by a council.

Bryn Bach Coal Ltd asked permission to extend the closed Glan Lash mine near Ammanford in Carmarthenshire.

County councillors turned down the plan at a meeting on Thursday, citing environmental concerns and local opposition.

It follows the rejection of plans to extend Ffos-y-Fran, the UK's biggest opencast coal mine near Merthyr Tydfil.

About 40 protestors gathered outside the county hall in Carmarthen to show their objection to the plans, some shouting "no more coal".

The mine has not been operating since 2019, when the operators applied for an extension, claiming it was necessary to pay for the restoration of the land.

The company said surface mining operations would be on 10 hectares (25 acres) north of the current Glan Lash site.

Council reports indicated the loss of habitat by allowing the extension would "not outweigh any benefits", Tom Boothroyd, Carmarthenshire council's development manager officer, told the meeting.

He said since the application for an extension was submitted, the council had received 826 objections.

The mine opened in 2012 on a licence permitting the extraction of 92,500 tonnes of coal over four-and-a-half years.

Coal is Wales' heritage, not its future

Haf Elgar, the director of Friends of the Earth Cymru, called the council's decision "historic" by putting "nature and climate first". 

"By saying no to more coal at Glan Lash, the last opencast mine in Wales," she said, "we can finally see an end to open cast mining in Wales for good. 

"Coal is a part of our heritage, not our future," she added. "We must focus instead on cleaner` greener energy and creating sustainable green jobs in Carmarthenshire and across Wales."