The Coal Industry Act of 1994 contained detailed provisions to enable the break up and privatisation (in part) of the coal industry to take place. Except for land which British Coal sold in its own right, all of its other property interests were disposed of by way of Restructuring Schemes made by the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry pursuant to provisions under Section 12 of the 1994 Act. Generally speaking, the Schemes (so far as they related to property in England) dealt with the following:

1. Operational land associated with working collieries or opencast sites (either working or prospective). These were transferred to Central and Northern Mining Limited (now known as UK Coal Plc). There were at least two such Schemes.
2. Liability sites and land which British Coal could not itself sell prior to 20 December 1997. This land transferred to The Coal Authority. There have been ten such Schemes. (These Schemes also included land in Scotland).
3. Disused colliery sites. These were transferred to English Partnerships. There was one such Scheme.
4. Recreational land. This was transferred to Coal Industry Social Welfare Organisation (CISWO). There was one such Scheme.
5. Rescue Stations. These transferred to the new Coal Mines Rescue Stations Company on 31 March 1996.

The first Scheme in favour of The Coal Authority took effect from 31 December 1994. The first in favour of Central and Northern Mining Limited took effect from 30 December 1994. The seventh Scheme in favour of The Coal Authority transferred (with very limited exceptions) all of British Coal’s then remaining land and property interests. That Scheme took effect from 20 December 1997.

During the period between October 1994 and December 1997 British Coal undertook a vast programme of disposals of its retained land and property interests which were not included in any of the Restructuring Schemes. In relation to every such sale (whether of individual properties or those forming part of portfolios) British Coal produced a binder of information containing (1) extracts from the then relevant Restructuring Schemes (2) copies of relevant Underground Rights Deeds (one of such Deeds was created in relation to each Scheme) and (3) an Explanatory Note. This information was provided to each buyer with the intention that it would be passed to each subsequent landowner.

The Authority has no way of determining which information was passed to British Coal’s buyer of any particular piece of land but that buyer (or his Solicitor) should have all of the relevant information. In view of the nature of the Restructuring Schemes, however, all Schemes which had been completed at the time of a sale of any land by British Coal related to and affected that land.

In relation to British Coal’s ‘operational’ land in South Wales this transferred to the South Wales Coal Company Limited (later to become known as Celtic Energy Limited). There were at least two Schemes, the first taking effect from 31 December 1994.

In addition to the above, there were also individual Restructuring Schemes, one relating to Tower Colliery (in South Wales) taking effect from 23 December 1994, the other relating to Annesley/Bentinck Collieries in Nottinghamshire talking effect from 25 April 1995.