Large-scale wind farm proposal enters planning process

Elgan Hearn, Local Democracy Reporter

Councillors have been told that plans for yet another wind energy scheme have been brought forward.

At a meeting of Blaenau Gwent County Borough Council on Thursday, April 23, councillors were told that the planning application for nine turbines at Mynydd Bedwellte was in the process of being validated by Welsh Government planning inspectors.

Spanish firm EDP Renewables wants to build nine wind turbines with a maximum height of 180 metres at Mynydd Bedwellte.

The site, which is west of Tredegar and east of Rhymney, straddles the county boundaries of Blaenau Gwent and Caerphilly councils.

This scheme is classed as a Development of National Significance (DNS) and will be processed by Welsh Government Planning Inspectors at PEDW (Planning and Environment Decisions Wales).

This means that Blaenau Gwent, as well as Caerphilly councils, will be consultees rather than decision makers, and eventually the inspector will produce a report that will recommend how a Welsh Government minister should decide the application.

Development team manager Helen Hinton said: “As members (councillors) would be aware, the last DNS that we are waiting on is Mynydd Bedwellte.

“That scheme has gone out to consultation, and they have subsequently submitted their documentation to PEDW.

“We received notification from PEDW that the application is now in the validation process.

“What we have done is notify the constituent ward members that this application is pending, so it’s the very early days.”

She added that she would let councillors know when the application has been validated and officially gone live.

Committee chairwoman Cllr Lisa Winnett (Labour – Blaina) thanked her for the update, which was noted by the committee.

EDP have said that they held a pre-application consultation between June 30 and August 11 last year, which would help them refine their plans ahead of lodging them with PEDW this year.

EDP Renewables said: “We want to develop clean energy for Wales and help it achieve its mission to reach net zero, whilst creating a positive legacy in its communities.”

The company claims that it would generate 54.9 MW of electricity, which is enough to power 35,500 homes.