January 18, 2008
Wales
Wales
Next Wednesday is D-day for two major wind farm developments.
That’s when Denbighshire County Council’s planning committee meet to either green-light or reject two applications for development which could transform the Vale of Clwyd landscape.
WindPower Wales wants to build 16 turbines, each 100 metres high, next to the existing Tir Mostyn site, near Nantglyn, which currently has 25 turbines.
Meanwhile Tegni Cymru Cyf want to construct 13 turbines, each 125 metres tall, towards the north west of the village boundary at Gorsedd Brân.
Officers recommend that councillors vote in favour of both applications – claiming the “high premium” attached to renewable energy outweighs any landscape protection issues.
An accompanying report by Denbighshire’s head of planning and public protection Graham Boase reads: “It is respectfully suggested that a number of potential conflicts with planning policies can be addressed through suitable mitigation, and that the harm to the local landscape is outweighed by the strong material considerations in TAN 8 (the Welsh Assembly’s renewable energy policy).
County councillor Paul Marfleet, a Nantglyn resident, claimed the meeting, which begins at County Hall, in Ruthin, at 10am, was likely to be attended by many locals affected by the plans.
He said: “Many local residents already suffer noise pollution from the Tir Mostyn site. They fear that the cumulative impact from three different sites coming from three different directions will tip the balance to unbearable.
He went on: “Nantglyn just experienced the worst floods in known memory. Most local people believe this to be as a result of deforestation that took place above the village last year.
“When trees are removed, the water just runs off the fields. Both these sites will involve clear felling of the trees on the site. This will be hundreds of thousands of trees.”
Both developments are located within Strategic Search Area A (SSA A), one of the seven areas in Wales identified by the Assembly’s TAN 8 document as suitable for onshore wind energy schemes.
By Matt Sims
18 January 2008
URL to article: https://www.wind-watch.org/news/2008/01/18/tir-mostyn-turbine-plan-faces-d-day/