October 22, 2015
Wales

Councillors approve turbine against planning officers’ advice

Cambrian News | 22 October 2015 | www.cambrian-news.co.uk

A 45-metre wind turbine in Llanarth has been given the go-ahead despite planning officers’ recommendations it be turned down on the grounds it would spoil an “unspoilt” landscape.

Councillors heard the applicant, Cerdyn Jones, give a statement at a Ceredigion council planning committee meeting on Wednesday, 14 October, in which he argued for the erection of the turbine on his farm land at Rhyd y Fallen, just off the A487 between Llanarth and Synod Inn.

Planning officer Rhydian Williams said the turbine would be contrary to the council’s planning policies. He said the scale of the turbine would have a visual impact on the landscape and could adversely affect local communities and tourism in Ceredigion.

Supporting Mr Jones, Cllr Bryan Davies, county councillor for Llanarth, said: “I am very happy Cerdyn has come today because he works so hard on the farm.

“We have heard a lot about conservation, what about the conservation of young farmers who are the backbone of rural Wales? I have received one objection over the phone when the application was submitted initially, but nobody has contacted me since to object.

“If we can’t pass this today, the feed-in-tariff will decrease massively in the near future.”

The feed-in-tariff is a per-unit price for electricity sold to the national grid by small-scale renewable energy producers, and will decrease from 14p to 1p per unit from next year.

See the full story in this week’s South edition of the Cambrian News or read the online edition by clicking

here

[rest of article available at source]

URL to article:  https://www.wind-watch.org/news/2015/10/22/councillors-approve-turbine-against-planning-officers-advice/