Plans approved for solar farm on former landfill site

Richard Youle, local democracy reporter

Plans for a solar farm on part of a former landfill site have been given the green light

Twenty two rows of solar panels will be installed on land at Nantycaws waste management site, which is run by a council arm’s-length body called Cwm Environmental Ltd.

The electricity they generate will help power the facility, with gas captured from the old landfill and used on site due to run out shortly.

Carmarthenshire Council’s planning committee was told the nearest properties to the proposed solar farm were 450m away, that there was a line of trees to the east of the site, and a new hedgerow would be planted along the western side.

Views

Planning officer Helen Rice said Nantycaws waste management site was in quite an elevated position but views into it were “fairly limited”.

She said: “We do not consider that it (the proposed solar farm) would have such a detrimental impact on the landscape to warrant a refusal.”

She said the former landfill site had been capped with a plastic membrane and covered with at least one metre of soil, and the grassland within the solar farm development would be managed in a way to encourage biodiversity.

Vehicle movements

Councillors were told 110 two-way vehicle movements were anticipated for the construction of the two megawatt solar farm over a period of three to six months, and vehicles would have to turn left into and out of the site from the A48 rather than attempting a right turn across the busy dual carriageway.

The Welsh Government’s South Wales Trunk Road Agency, which is responsible for the A48, did not object to Cwm Environmental’s application but directed the council to impose a planning condition requiring an updated construction management plan to be submitted.

The council’s planning department recommended the application for approval, and the only committee member to vote against the recommendation was Cllr Gareth Thomas.

He said the solar farm was “a good idea” but he was concerned the A48 was “a problem” given the way he said the waste management site was growing.

Pressure

Cllr Thomas said he felt pressure should be put on the South Wales Trunk Road Agency.

“This is a personal protest more than anything,” he said. “The road is going to become more and more dangerous.”

Cllr Elwyn Williams said it was his understanding there were plans for a new intersection where the A48 met the Nantycaws access road.