Powys Planners Recommend Approval of Controversial Weather Mast Near Brecon

POWYS planners are continuing to advise councillors to approve a controversial temporary 122.5-metre-high weather mast near Brecon which has received 57 objections.
At a meeting of Powys County Council’s Planning Committee on Thursday, August 6, the application by Garreg Fawr Energy Park Limited for a meteorological mast and ancillary structure for a five-year period at land south of Ffynnon Ffrydyll at Merthyr Cynog will go before the Planning Committee for the second time.
This site is between Sennybridge and Brecon.
Garreg Fawr Energy Park Limited is a subsidiary of Bute Energy, and they want to eventually build 22 wind turbines with a maximum height of 220 metres at the site.
The application was deferred at the committee’s last meeting on July 8, to allow newly elected local county councillor Colin Millichap to find out the views of residents on the scheme.
Cllr Millichap (Liberal Democrat) was only elected to represent the Yscir with Honddu Isaf and Llanddew ward following a by-election on July 1.
The by-election was needed as the previous councillor, Iain McIntosh, was elected to the Senedd at the election on May 7.
Last December, Mr McIntosh had called in the application to be decided by the Planning Committee.
Under the rules, opponents of the scheme – who spoke against the proposal at the last planning meeting – will not be allowed to return and give their views for a second time, and neither will representatives of Bute Energy to support it.
Cllr Millichap said: “I have spent the last few weeks listening to residents and piecing together the information to form this statement.
“There are concerns that the mast will be intrusive and its construction will be disruptive to the local area.
“There are concerns over the visual impact of the mast and the threat to birds and other wildlife.
“Merthyr Cynog and the surrounding area have given up a lot in the national interest when they lost half of their community in the Epynt clearance.
“I would ask the committee to give serious consideration to the views of the local community and the points raised regarding the ornithological survey and the position of Bannau Brycheiniog National Park and not to approve the met mast application.”
In her report, senior planning officer Catherine James stressed that the application has to be decided on its own merits and that the potential wind farm development in the background needs to be ignored.
This is despite her recommendation being based on policy that supports renewable energy proposals.
Ms James said: “This application relates solely to the meteorological mast and does not include any proposal for a wind farm.
“The recommendation is one of conditional consent.
“In reaching this conclusion, significant weight is given to the need to support renewable energy and associated infrastructure, in line with Future Wales and PPW (Planning Policy Wales).
“Whilst some limited landscape and visual impacts have been identified, these are not considered to amount to unacceptable harm and are outweighed by the wider benefits of facilitating renewable energy development.”
Garreg Fawr Energy Park is at a very early stage and is classed as Development of National Significance (DNS).
This means it would be processed by Welsh Government planning inspectors at PEDW (Planning and Environment Decisions Wales), who recommend a decision that would be announced by a Welsh Government cabinet secretary. ‌​‌​‌​​​‍‌​‌​​‌‌‌‍‌​‌‌​​‌​‍‌​‌‌‌​‌‌‍‌​‌‌‌‌​​

%gallery% ‌​‌​‌​​​‍‌​‌​​‌‌‌‍‌​‌‌​​‌​‍‌​‌‌‌​‌‌‍‌​‌‌‌‌​​

By BBC LDRS ‌​‌​‌​​​‍‌​‌​​‌‌‌‍‌​‌‌​​‌​‍‌​‌‌‌​‌‌‍‌​‌‌‌‌​​