Councillors to consider plans for three wind farms

Twm Owen, local democracy reporter

Plans for two wind farms with up to 13 turbines straddling two Gwent boroughs will be considered by councillors along with a third revised application.

The applications have been made by RWE Renewables, for a wind farm of up to six turbines between Abertillery, in Blaenau Gwent, and Abersychan in Torfaen.

A revised application by Welsh firm Pennant Walters for a seven turbine development at Mynydd Llanhilleth south east of Abertillery and east of Llanhilleth, in Torfaen, will also be debated.

Though the applications will be presented to Torfaen Borough Council’s planning committee, when its meets on Wednesday, August 20 at the Civic Centre in Pontypool, councillors aren’t able to approve or reject them.

That is because the amount of energy they are intended to generate means they are considered of national significance and will be determined by Planning and Environment Decisions Wales (PEDW) which has to seek the views of the local planning authorities as part of its considerations.

Potential impacts

Torfaen planning officers have prepared reports setting out the potential impacts of the developments which will be considered by councillors at the meeting.

The council agreed to object to the RWE proposal for the Coity Mountain due to the potential impact on the Blaenavon World Heritage Site of the turbines that would measure up to 200 metres to their blade height.

The town was granted the prestigious recognition by United Nations body UNESCO in 2000 but potential windfarm developments in the area have been identified as a possible threat to the status.

Councillors will be told RWE’s response to the concerns raised by the council, when the committee debated the application in February this year, and by others haven’t been addressed.

As a result the committee will be asked to note the planning department is maintaining its submission the applicant’s have “downplayed” the importance of the Coity Ridge and the proposal’s impact on it and as a result the world heritage status.

Blaenavon

RWE has argued as the status was granted in relation to Blaenavon’s role in the development of the industrial revolution the landscape isn’t central to the designation and says its environmental impact report has considered the potential impact.

Torfaen council says the listed buildings, conservation areas and landscape all form an integral part of the “outstanding universal values” that justifies Blaenavon being of world heritage importance, and says Welsh heritage body Cadw will also make that point in its submission.

A plan for eight turbines at Mynydd Llanhilleth, by Pennant Walters, was withdrawn in July last year but it has put forward revised plans for seven turbines and Torfaen council has until September 5 to respond.

While planning officers have concluded the development of seven turbines with a three-bladed rotor and a maximum height to blade tip of up to 180m, can be accommodated with mitigations they say they are concerned over the cummulative impact of other approved windfarms nearby, and those in the pipeline.

Officers from across council departments are drawing up proposed conditions to manage the impact of the Llanhilleth development.