Shocking new findings about threats to Wales’ peatlands

Martin Shipton

CPRW, the Welsh countryside charity, has revealed shocking new findings about the threat to Wales’ peatland landscapes.

According to the charity, the approval of wind farm developments on peatland threatens Welsh Government climate and biodiversity targets.

CPRW Trustee Dr Jonathan Dean said it was evident that severe ecological damage has already occurred at existing wind farm sites.

‘Destroyed’

He said: “To quote directly from internal government briefing documents obtained under Freedom of Information legislation, ‘at Pen y Cymoedd [between Neath and Aberdare], the excavated peat had been destroyed and degraded; stone was poured into trackways until it settled, interrupting the flow of water and degrading the habitat either side of it; borrow pits were left unrestored.

“Meanwhile at Clocaenog in Denbighshire, soil from a turbine base had been dumped on a peatland habitat, and other areas of peat soils had been excavated and left to oxidise, erode and degrade. Further damage to peatland habitats will occur, and further financial resource will be needed to rectify the damage.”

Dr Dean said: “The damage is set to continue. Garn Fach wind farm near Newtown was approved in October 2024 even though it was located on protected peatland. This led to the charity’s investigation. CPRW discovered the wind farm was approved by Cabinet Secretary Rebecca Evans despite the policy not to develop on peatland, according to internal government documents. The documents reveal the wind farm was approved on the basis of ‘wholly exceptional circumstances’ – contributing just 1% towards the Welsh Government’s net zero renewable energy targets. That’s a marginal gain at a potentially irreversible ecological cost.”

Conflicting briefings

CPRW says it has uncovered conflicting briefings to ministers within departments: one allowing peatlands to be destroyed by the wind farm development, the other working to restore degraded peatland. A 2025 briefing to Deputy First Minister Huw Irranca-Davies noted that if the current pipeline of wind farm projects proceeds, the damage would ‘negate years of restoration activity’.

Jonty Colchester, CPRW Chairman, warned of the precedent being set: “It is evident that no peatland is safe from renewable energy development in light of recent planning decisions,” he said. “As such, our climate and biodiversity strategies are significantly at risk. Our peatland is the most important natural carbon sink, which is being destroyed – how can the government claim to lead the way on net zero on one hand and destroy it on the other?”

CPRW has urgently urged the Welsh Government to revisit its policy approach to ensure that peat areas are excluded when developing renewable energy developments. CPRW warns millions of pounds which has been spent on peatland restoration will be wasted if the Welsh Government doesn’t act now.

Dr Dean added: “There should be no conflict between the need to conserve and restore peatlands and the development of renewable energy. The issue is developers are picking the wrong places — and the government is letting them.”

An article on the issue by Dr Dean appears in the Summer edition of Hiraeth Magazine, CPRW’s members’ publication.

Bute Energy

In 2024 Bute Energy was granted permission to build an “energy park” at Twyn Hywel near Senghenydd, Caerphilly despite concerns about the impact on peatland.

According to Bute Energy, the energy park with 14 wind turbines will produce enough electricity to power more than 80,000 homes.

But a specialist department of the Welsh Government responsible for peatland, soil and agricultural land use lodged a formal objection to Bute’s plan, saying it would contravene the Welsh Government’s peat conservation policy.

In a consultation submission to Planning and Environment Decisions Wales (PEDW), the head of the unit wrote: “The proposals will have an unacceptable adverse impact on the environment and represent a net loss of the peat resource. The Department does not consider acceptable provisions for the conservation and protection of peat can be achieved, and the proposal lacks detail for the effective site restoration of mineral soils.

“The proposal has not demonstrated that the site can be reclaimed to an acceptable standard and after-use. This should have been presented in sufficient detail for … statutory consultees to form a judgement as to its feasibility. There is significant doubt as to whether satisfactory reclamation can be achieved at the site, and as such, the planning permission should be refused.”

‘Misrepresentation’

Responding to the objection, Bute Energy’s agents Savills told PEDW: “[The] applicant considers it important to highlight what appears to be a fundamental misrepresentation of the proposed development site. Much reference is made [to] ‘developing peat’, and a perceived failure of the proposed development to protect peat resources and ‘irreplaceable habitats’.

“[The] identification of the site as a peatland site is refuted.”

Citing a set of ‘Peatlands of Wales’ maps produced by the Welsh Government, Savills stated: “It is clear that the proposed development site is not within, and in fact is remote from, what could reasonably be

considered a peatland area (ie an area where any more than very small-scale, localised areas of peat are shown to be present). It is therefore incorrect to define the site, as a whole, as a ‘peatland site’.

“On the basis of the habitats present and the limited peat on site, the identification of the proposed development site as one suitable for development is entirely appropriate.”

The Welsh Government department withdrew its objection and planning permission was granted.