‘We weren’t told about pylon consultation’ 

Industrial electricity pylons will stretch from through the Vale of Clwyd form Clocaenog to St Asaph.

That is if proposed plans get the go ahead for the North Wales Wind Farm Connection to be built by power firm SP Manweb.

As reported in the Free Press last week, the plan is under consultation to allow all the people who might be affected to have their say.

However, some residents in the Saron and Peniel areas say that they were not told about the consultation.

The consultation began in March and was due to end last Sunday. But after pressure from campaigners the consultation has been extended.

Denbighshire County Council have called on the proposed power cables to be put underground.

Saron resident, Iona Edwards-Jones, said: “We have evidence of many residents in Saron and Peniel who have not received consultation forms in Stages 1, 2 or 3 of the consultation process. It’s likely that some still have no idea what has been proposed by SP Manweb. These communities lie directly near SP Manweb’s proposed route. “This is simply not good enough.”

Peniel resident, Nerys Jones, said: “We did not receive consultation stage 2, which was a critical stage of SP Manweb’s consultation stage.
“The process is completely flawed due to the consultation process not being open and fair; many local residents were unaware that the consultation process was taking place.

Saron resident, Ieuan Evans, said: “We were dismayed to hear of SP Manweb’s proposals by ‘mishap’ in conversation with local councillors. We had not received any notification or opportunity for consultation during stages 1, 2 and 3 and we are led to believe that the proposed pylons will be placed in very close proximity to our house and through a green belt area of our village. When we heard about the proposals, my wife wrote to SP Manweb for details and expressed concern that we had not been contacted or consulted, we did not receive any response to the request.”

Steve Tasker who also lives in Saron said: “I was just given the report on May 12. I noticed the report has a March date. The report was handed to me by my neighbour. I have received no literature regarding the placement of pylons by post.”

A spokesperson for SP Manweb said “Addresses within 2km of the draft route were sent a newsletter and feedback form by first class post before the start of consultation on 20 March 2014. In addition, advertisements and press releases were issued across local media, as well as posters outside a number of information points where the Project Newsletter, Overview Report, Feedback and a DVD containing all the project information is available to take away.
“The adequacy of our consultation will be evaluated by an independent body, the

Planning Inspectorate, as a normal part of an application for this type of development .

“Following a request from members of the community, we have extended the deadline for receiving responses until 28 June 2014. Information about the project is still widely available and we would encourage members of the local community to submit their comments before the extended deadline.”