Campaigners oppose Denbighshire windfarm proposals
Building three wind farms within eight miles of each other could be disastrous for tourism and the environment.
That’s the fear of campaigners as a total of 61 turbines are being proposed or planned in an area of great natural beauty.
Earlier this year Denbighshire County Council approved plans for a 16-turbine wind farm to the east of Llyn Brenig. Currently, a public inquiry is being held into a 13-turbine development at Nantglyn, and there are proposals for 32 turbines in the Clocaenog Forest near Ruthin.
“Taken on their own there is cause for concern about each of these developments, but in my opinion the cumulative effect of three such projects within a fairly small area could be disastrous for local communities,” said Clwyd West AM, Darren Millar.
He has lodged an objection to Tegni Cymru Cyf’s Gorsedd Bran development at Nantglyn, which is the subject of the planning inquiry being held in Denbigh this week.
Banner-bearing protesters have been gathering at the Town Hall to show their opposition to the plans to chop down trees to make way for Wales’ tallest wind farm at 125m.
The controversial scheme also includes proposals for a sub-station, new road access and ancillary works at the 290-hectare site. Campaigners have raised concerns about the “overwhelming” visual impact, noise levels and the loss of the conifer forest.
Environmentalist Peter Devenport said: “I know what it means to live amongst a natural landscape and since the introduction on the Tir Mostyn development, I’ve witnessed a process of destruction within our local area. We need to support the natural land that we live in. Cutting down trees is not protecting the environment.”
Denbighshire councillors Jane Yorke and Paul Marfleet are representing the county at the inquiry. Experts on behalf of Tegni Cymru Cyf say risks of flooding and noise levels are “insignificant”.
Speaking of all three developments, AM Darren Millar added: “The concerns that people have are the impact on tourism which is the major contributor to the economy in Denbighshire, and also the impact of felling large numbers of trees and the possibility of that leading to localised flooding.”
But Mark Fleming of RWE npower renewables, the company behind the 32-turbine Clocaenog scheme, said: “Extensive studies have been carried out into the visual impact of wind turbines on tourism and all have shown that they don’t really affect people’s decision on whether or not they visit an area.”
7 October 2009
Tags: Wind power, Wind energy
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