Solar farm developer agrees to better access solution for public

Richard Youle – Local democracy reporter

A solar farm developer and members of the public who were worried about losing access to land when it was built have come to a compromise.

Residents of Glais and elsewhere applied to Swansea Council four years ago to add 3.5km of “claimed” footpaths to the public rights of way map after learning that a large solar farm was planned off Graig y Pal.

The application was supported with evidence from 35 people saying they had used the routes over a 20-year period, a meeting of the council’s planning committee heard.

The 20-megawatt solar farm was approved by the Welsh Government last year and a compromise has now been reached resulting in the applicants discontinuing their support for the claimed footpaths to be formally recorded.

Instead an alternative 5.5km network of mainly bridleways has been proposed and agreed. It’ll now need a “dedication agreement” to be signed by the developer and council, a report before the committee said.

‘Give and take’

Speaking after the planning meeting Cllr Brigitte Rowlands, whose Clydach ward includes Glais, said there was a lot to be learned from people working together. “A bit of give and take from everybody really helps,” she said.

Councillors heard that part of the proposed 5.5km network would go through the solar farm and be fenced off for security reasons but that it followed the developer’s own access routes and therefore wouldn’t interfere as much as the original application would have.

The benefit for the applicants is a longer network with more bridleways, which can be used by cyclists and horse riders as well as walkers.

Addressing the committee, countryside access officer Chris Dale said: “Both the applicants and the developer have approached the situation with a willingness to compromise and the result has been beneficial for both parties.”

This made the case unusual, he said, as had the applicants’ decision to stop supporting their own application.

Land

Mr Dale explained there was no mechanism in law to formally withdraw the application meaning the committee was advised to refuse it and approve the alternative, larger network subject to the dedication agreement, which it did after a short discussion.

Mr Dale also said a 380m section of the 5.5km network was in Neath Port Talbot and that Neath Port Talbot Council had agreed to dedicate that section as a right of way in tandem with Swansea Council.

He further explained that the proposed network did not include a footpath claimed by the applicants which ran across a neighbouring landowner’s land.

He said the applicants still sought to have this route added as a public right of way. “We will deal with that at a later date,” he said.

Cllr Rowlands, addressing the committee, said the longer network would benefit different users and that the cooperation reflected “a constructive and balanced approach between land management and public access”.

The 5.5km network is to be added to the rights of way map once the 68-hectare solar farm is built by CYP Solar. The council is responsible for recording, maintaining, and protecting around 655km of public rights of way in Swansea.