122m meteorological mast to be installed in south-west Wales at proposed wind farm site

Richard Youle – Local democracy reporter

A 122m meteorological mast will be installed south-west Wales where a large wind farm is proposed.

The mast, west of Llansawel, near the Brechfa Forest, in Carmarthenshire will have to be removed and the ground restored within five years of it becoming operational – or before if no longer required for wind monitoring – as part of planning consent by the county council’s planning committee.

Council planning officer John Thomas told councillors at a meeting on August 27 the lattice mast would be “quite inconspicuous in the landscape” and that devices called bird diverters would be added to its supporting guy wires.

There were 20 objections from people worried about its impact on tourism, the local landscape, and television and radio reception. Concerns were also raised about the impact of a subsequent wind farm development.

Statutory consultees including the Ministry of Defence and an air navigation specialist body didn’t object, and Mr Thomas said any future wind farm was not relevant to the application.

“We are clearly looking at a meteorological mast, not any future wind turbine development,” he said.

The mast will collect data for a wind farm called Glyn Cothi which has been proposed by Welsh Government-owned renewable energy developer Trydan Gwyrdd Cymru. Feasibility work has indicated it could accommodate up to 27 turbines and be mostly sited within the Brechfa Forest. A planning application is expected to be submitted to planning and infrastructure body Planning and Environment Decisions Wales next year.

Cllr Russell Sparks said he welcomed the “extensive list” of consultees for the mast application, which was submitted by Trydan Gwyrdd Cymru, and proposed that the committee supported it.

He said data recorded by the mast would mean any future wind turbine decision would be based on hard fact, science and data “in a world where we don’t always have as much facts as we would like”.

Installing the mast is expected to take around five days. The committee’s approval was unanimous.

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