CAMPAIGNERS have withdrawn their legal challenge against mud being dumped off the coast near Cardiff and Penarth and there will be a vote on the situation in the Welsh Assembly.

The news comes after campaigners asked the court to find that there was no Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) for energy provider EDF dumping the mud on Cardiff Grounds.

Around 300,000 tonnes was being dredged near Hinkley Point C site and moved to Cardiff Grounds, not far from Penarth – which is a licensed disposal site.

Campaigners had previously requested an injunction to stop the dumping – stating the mud could be “potentially hazardous”, despite environmental watchdog Natural Resources Wales – who granted to licence for the dumping – insisting it is safe.

South Wales Central AM Neil McEvoy had set up a crowdfunding page ahead of several protests against the mud. However, he clarified this week that on October 10 there will be a vote in the Assembly where every politician will be able to vote on whether or not to stop the mud dumping.

In a video speaking about the vote on his Twitter page, Mr McEvoy said: “I’m inviting everybody in Wales to demonstrate outside the Assembly next Wednesday and to make sure your Assembly Member votes to stop that dumping.”

In the video, Mr McEvoy is joined by rock musician and anti-nuclear campaigner Cian Ciaran, who is the keyboard player for the band Super Furry Animals.

Mr Ciaran spoke out about the dumping, saying that the “nuclear establishment cannot be trusted.”

Max Wallis, of Friends of the Earth, Penarth and Barry, said: “We set out to win a High Court decision to establish there was no EIA, for that knocks the ground away for the whole dumping licence. That point being won, the pressure is now on the Welsh Government to halt the dumping.

“The company would just have to arrange to take the mud on their huge Hinkley construction site and use it for landscaping. The chemicals and nuclear contaminants would then be retained in bunds, rather than spread through the Severn marine life, to beaches and land.”