Historic Mining Area
Ground stability where coal or minerals were worked
A historic mining area is land with a record of past mining, where old workings can shift the ground. Most flagged areas are former coalfields. Others cover tin and other metal mining, salt or brine workings, or limestone, gypsum, clay and chalk extraction. The Mining Remediation Authority holds the coal record for England, Wales and Scotland, but not for Northern Ireland.
What This Means
Most workings here closed decades or centuries ago, and the ground above nearly all of them is stable. The type of mining decides which search answers the question: coal, tin and brine each have their own record. Where subsidence has happened before, buildings insurance costs more and the claims history follows the address. This is one of the few things on this report that lenders and insurers price directly: a lender will normally hold the mortgage offer until the coal mining report comes back clear.
Practical Advice
- Ask your conveyancer to order the official coal mining search, the CON29M, if this property sits in or near an English or Welsh coalfield.
- In Scotland, ask your solicitor to order a coal mining report for the property directly from the Mining Remediation Authority.
- Ask your conveyancer which non-coal search this area needs, such as a Cornish tin search or a Cheshire brine search.
- Ask the seller on the TA6 property information form whether the property has ever had a subsidence claim.
Key Points
- A CON29M lists recorded mine entries within 20 metres of the boundary, past subsidence claims, and any coal workings planned for the future.
- Northern Ireland's two small coalfields are at Coalisland in Tyrone, where mining stopped in the 1930s, and Ballycastle in Antrim, which closed in 1967.
Additional Information
The Mining Remediation Authority's remit covers Great Britain only, so there is no official coal mining report for a Northern Irish property. Records of historic workings there sit with the Geological Survey of Northern Ireland. The authority was formerly the Coal Authority, which is the name on older reports.