Wind farm plans refused over impact on national park

Elgan Hearn, Local Democracy Reporter

A proposal to build six wind turbines with a maximum height of 200 metres on land in south Wales has been refused by Welsh Government planning inspectors.

At a meeting of Blaenau Gwent County Borough Council’s Planning committee on Thursday, March 25 councillors will be given an update on the Abertillery windfarm proposed for land between Abertillery and Abersychan.

They will be told that the proposal was refused planning permission earlier this month.

In October 2024, plans by German renewable energy giant RWE went live.

RWE wanted to build up to six wind turbines with a maximum height of 200 metres on land between Abertillery and Abersychan.

The site includes parts of Mynydd James and Gwastad Common and straddles the local authority boundaries of Blaenau Gwent and Torfaen county borough councils.

The proposal was classed as a Development of National Significance (DNS) application which means that it is processed by Welsh Government Planning Inspectors at PEDW (Planning and Environment Decisions Wales).

With this type of application  Blaenau Gwent is a consultee rather than a decision maker.

As part of the process, Blaenau Gwent submitted a Local Impact Report (LIR) to PEDW in March last year and county planners said that they believe the windfarm would have a “negative” effect on the county borough.

The decision by planning inspector Iwan Lloyd was published on March 6.

In total Mr Lloyd refused the wind turbine application and two applications to de-register common land at the site.

Mr Lloyd said:  “The proposal would have unacceptable adverse impacts on the setting of the Bannau Brycheiniog National Park.

“The harm would be of considerable weight because the development would harm the special qualities of the BBNP and thereby fail to accord with its statutory purpose, to conserve or enhance the natural beauty of the national park and would diminish the public’s enjoyment of this designation.

“The combination of this proposal and other consented wind farm development in the area would increase inter-visibility of large-scale wind farms within the national park setting leading to a deterioration in the appreciation and experience of the landscape and visual amenity of the BBNP and its special qualities.

“The proposal would also adversely and unacceptably impact on local landscape designations within Blaenau Gwent and Torfaen.”

Mr Lloyd added that the unacceptable adverse impacts would also impact cultural heritage assets which include the Blaenavon Industrial Landscape World Heritage site.

RWE say that the wind farm had the potential to generate power equivalent to the needs of approximately 50,000 homes.