Powys planners vote against turbine plans over the border
A controversial wind farm on the border of Powys and Herefordshire would not be considered if it was in Wales according to a senior planning official.
The application for four wind turbines on Reeves Hill is due to be considered by Herefordshire County Council on January 9 but came before Powys County Planning Committee on Monday for the county’s response.
Steve Packer, planning services manager, said: “If there were any turbines in Wales then Welsh policy context would make it absolutely clear it was going for refusal.
“This wind farm would be right on the border, it’s not as if it’s miles away. A hill is a hill, it is not confined to national boundaries.”
The members of the committee present at the meeting, with the exception of Councillor Frank Torrens who abstained from the vote, all agreed to go along with the officer’s recommendation that Powys County Council recommend the application for refusal.
Two previous applications in 1994 and 1996, submitted to the then District Councils of Radnorshire and Leominster, for a wind farm on Reeves Hill, with nine turbines on the Herefordshire side and five on the Powys side, were refused.
Powys County Council has received 292 letters of objection to the proposal and only two letters of support. Concerns included the loss of the unique quality of Reeves Hill with its unrestricted views of undeveloped countryside, the detrimental impact on the Shropshire AONB and the Offa’s Dyke and Glyndwr’s Way national trails and the disruption caused to residents nearby.
“This is such a different landscape to ones where we are considering turbines to be placed,” Mr Packer said. “Just as 10 years ago we didn’t feel it was appropriate, this is a landscape that cannot accommodate turbines.”
Other organisations and individuals involved in the consultation who have raised concerns are Knighton Town Council, the Offa’s Dyke Association, the Council for the Preservation of Rural Wales, the Council for the Preservation of Rural England, Presteigne Festival of Music and the Arts, Stonewall Hill Conservation Group, Cadw/Ancient Monuments Association and residents living within 1km of the proposal.
By Lindsey Pullan
29 December 2008
Tags: Wind power, Wind energy
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