Planners are urged to throw out the plans for 19 turbines
Campaigners are urging planners to follow their officers’ advice and block the construction of a windfarm on a south Wales hillside.
The Open Spaces Society welcomed the recommendation of Swansea officers to reject the application to build 19 wind turbines on Mynydd y Gwair Common, 13km (8 miles) north of the city. The authority’s planning committee meets today to consider the matter.
OSS general secretary Kate Ashbrook said: “We are delighted that the officers are recommending to the committee that the application be thrown out. This is an open hillside with spectacular views. It is common land where people have the right to walk and ride unimpeded. The turbines, amounting to a wind factory, will desecrate this lovely area.
“If the wind turbines were to be built, a vast chunk of land would be taken out of the common and, although land would be given in exchange, it would inevitably be inferior. It’s like cutting a hole in a Persian carpet: you cannot compensate for that by providing another bit of carpet.”
Local and national organisations have joined residents in opposing the plans. The Countryside Council for Wales, Campaign for the Protection of Rural Wales, West Glamorgan Commoners’ Association, Ramblers Cymru, Save Our Common Mountain Environment, Swansea Civic Society, Brecon Beacons Park Society, Gower Society, the Betws Mountain Preservation Group and four Welsh Assembly members have all voiced their opposition to the scheme proposed by Npower Renewables.
Ms Ashbrook continued: “The people of Swansea and far beyond are urging the councillors to follow the officers’ recommendation and reject these damaging proposals.”
joe
22 January 2010I don't know the specifics of this case but in general it seems to me wrong that these groups are so vociferous in their opposition. They seem to oppose any renewable energy project. I would consider them conservationists rather than environmentalists. They don't like the way things have changed but rather than calling for a different kind of development, they simply oppose further change. They might not feel the same if their home was more imminently threatened by the rising sea level as it is for many of the worlds poorest people. If you want an insight into why the Copenhagen summit failed despite apparent support from major leaders, don't blame the Chinese, take a closer look at these attitudes and I think you will find the answers lie a lot closer to home. To be the change you want to see in the world might mean some compromises. For example if you don't like lots of noisy traffic, try to stop driving as much. Don't rely on excuses such as - "I live in the country so I have to drive a long way to work" - choose a genuinely more sustainable lifestyle.
Peter Evans
22 January 2010People oppose wind farms because they are an unsightly blight on the landscape, while lack of investment in other sources of renewable energy means they are the easy option. They are a con - making money for developers and landowners jumping on the back of the 'save the planet' bandwagon. If this or any other development - with the possible exception of offshore wind farms - can be pevented, that's great in my book.
If the world is really serious about preventing global warming, the massive carbon producers such as the US, China, and India - the latter with an enconomy developing at a massive rate using coal as the principal driver, have to be stopped.
But who are we in the West to tell poverty-stricken Chinese and Indian people that they can't have electricity or the modern conveniences we enjoy? Try reading a book called The Wind Farm Scam by Dr John Etherington if you want to get a true picture of how much of a con wind farms are.
The Piglit
28 January 2010Joe - you are wrong.
Peter - you are right.
End of argument.
John Ellis
27 February 2011What are the objectors doing to reduce their carbon footprint? What are the objectors doing to stop their dependence on fossil fuel? What are the objectors doing to produce an alternative to fossil fuel? What are the objectors doing to counter climate change? Answer nothing. When the elusive fix to zero emissions power source is found, then the wind turbines can be taken down, simples. But until then there is very little alternative, except build a nuclear power station but in whose back garden, bet its not the objectors one. As for the 'have to be stopped' are you suggesting world war 3 or its ok for them to have wind turbines.