Mynydd Llansadwrn Action Group

Help Protect our Welsh Mountain Landscapes

Urgent information for Carmarthenshire County Councillors

  Re: Carmarthenshire Unitary Development Plan: Supplementary Planning Guidance on Renewable Energy Developments

Part 1: Wind Farm Development in the Brechfa Forest Area* – A Discussion Paper

  From: Mynydd Llansadwrn Action Group  www.turbineaction.co.uk

The Discussion Paper on wind farm development is the planning department’s first step towards formulating supplementary guidelines that will override current planning policy. The planning office acknowledges that ‘wind farm development on the scale anticipated will have a major impact on the landscape character…’ and that it is ‘… likely to affect timber production, wildlife habitats and tourism and recreation industries…’. Any planning policy changes that relate to wind farm development will, therefore, have a profound effect on Carmarthenshire.

This matter is too important to be left to a single Councillor or a small committee to make the final decision. It is vital that every County Councillor has an opportunity to discuss any proposed amendments and to decide if they should be adopted.

The Discussion Paper states that ‘Welsh Assembly Government policy … provides a justification for allowing local planning policies to be over-ridden in the wider public interest.’ This statement is based on two unsubstantiated assumptions:

1. Wind farms serve a wider public interest.
2. Welsh Assembly policy overrides local planning policy.

We challenge this first assumption. Wind farm developers and some politicians argue that wind power serves a wider public interest by reducing carbon emissions. However, this argument has not been proven. On the contrary, recent evidence indicates that the intermittent nature of wind power means it is relatively ineffective in reducing emissions. In the light of this evidence, it is incumbent on the Welsh Assembly and the planning department to show how proposed wind power development will serve the public interest. So far, the Assembly and planning officials have failed to provide any statistical data or scientific evidence to support their claims.

The second assumption implicit in the above statement is that Welsh Assembly policy overrides local planning policy. Welsh Assembly policy on wind power development as set out in TAN8 is a guideline only; it is not legislation. The Carmarthenshire County Council has no moral or legal obligation to follow the TAN8 policy directives.

The House of Commons Welsh Affairs Committee report, Energy in Wales, published in July 2006, has called into question the democratic validity of TAN8:

  When these two procedures [TAN8 and the Electricity Act] are combined, they leave little – if any – opportunity for local residents in Wales to mount a defence against applications for large wind farms in their locality. Not only is this deeply frustrating, it also undermines the democratic accountability that underpins decision-making in this policy area. We recommend that the Government review this position as a matter of urgency in order to give fair access to the decision-making process for individuals affected by large-scale wind farms in Wales (page 47, para 150).

If the Council adopts TAN8 directives without proof, or at least a reasonable technical argument, that there is just cause to bypass local planning policy and overrule local objections, it will be failing in its duty as elected representatives to act in the best interest of the people of Carmarthenshire and protect the local environment for future generations.

The rights and interests of local citizens must be safeguarded by their elected representatives and not meekly surrendered. The Welsh Assembly will not return planning power to the local level once it has been relinquished.

  The Mynydd Llansadwrn Action Group, formed in 2003, current membership over 200, is opposed to large-scale industrial wind power stations in the Welsh countryside. Our detailed response to the Discussion Paper is enclosed.

 

Map One

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