Roger Leek Email and Phone Number

Having worked as a surveyor for British Coal (and the former National Coal Board) for 23yrs, I teamed up with David Weston in 1993 to start up Leek & Weston Ltd. We opened in Pontypridd on 1st January 1994, just prior to privatisation of the coal industry. The business started as a small letting agency operating out of Market Square and developed to become a diverse business covering all aspects of management and development in the property and mining industries.Although the business started out as a small letting agency and later extended into estate agency, we were quickly drawn back into the mining industry shortly after setting up in business to work with one of the bidders in the privatisation of the coal industry. The company involved wanted to buy the South Wales Coalfield and engaged us to set up a team of engineers, geologists, environmentalists and surveyors to evaluate and assist in preparing their formal bids for the coalfield. It was an interesting time, involving travelling extensively to investigate the industry at various data rooms across the UK, having been cleared to do so by Rothchilds who were responsible to the Government for the sale of the industry.This was followed by Leek & Weston becoming involved with other companies looking to pursue interests in the South Wales coal field and culminated in my involvement as a minerals planning consultant, initially with CLH Ltd, and later with Miller Argent Limited. This absorbed nearly all my time for almost a further two decades, continuing until the year before my retirement in September 2017.On the estates management side, David managed the estates of Dowlais Top Investment Co. Ltd. and Llanfair Court in the Merthyr and Caerphilly areas. The estates encompassed extensive tracts of land, including those of the Gelligaer and Merthyr Urban Common and the Caerphilly Urban Common.Although I am now retired, I understand the company continues as a letting and estate agency along with the estates management function. However, the company's extensive and long-term involvement in the development of the opencast coal industry has ended. I look back fondly on my years as a surveyor and minerals planner in the coal industry, that spanned both its nationalised and privatised sectors, and I am now enjoying a well-earned retirement.