How Greenwashed was My Valley? Part three – the cavalry arrives from London

Neil Anderson

In Part 1, I reviewed some of the earlier information published by Nadara on their website , which, in scant fashion, attempted to anticipate some of the issues that would arise in respect of the solar farm proposal.

Having discussed these with local residents, some of whom described the engagement with Nadara (or their agents) as insulting and shallow, it quickly became apparent that there were much better options for the site and similar areas throughout the uplands of Cymru.

I identified these as including afforestation, rewilding, water harvesting, micro-hydro, small-scale solar capture, outdoor recreation, small-scale grazing, polytunnel horticulture and aquaculture, which would provide large-scale and long-term employment with many other benefits.

In Part 2, I discussed the intertwined politics, economics, energy, employment and cultural issues
that development projects like Glyn Taff are embedded within.

I concluded that the proposal had zero or near-zero benefit to Cymru, largely because we produce twice as much energy as we need. It will incur considerable planning costs for councils and the Welsh Government, without any mechanism for recouping them and is an obvious effort to extract wealth from our country with no recompense.

This third article discusses the addition of Quatro to the Nadara team. Quatro seem unlikely to add
value to this turkey but certainly more greenwash.

Who are Quatro?

Quatro PR is providing political communications and public relations advice* to Nadara in respect of the proposed Glyn Taff Solar Farm adjacent to Bryntail Road in Rhydyfelin, Pontypridd. They are based in London, England.

Clearly, us locals here and readers of Nation.Cymru require more convincing about the purported benefits of the scheme upon which Parts 1 and 2 of this series cast substantial doubt.

Perhaps we should be relieved that the ethics of Quatro are at the core of everything we do and we uphold the highest standards of openness, transparency and professionalism. Any differences with previously published information are then obviously oversights, typos etc and offered no doubt in good faith.

Glyn Taff Solar – plans submitted

Quatro’s first communication, on behalf of Nadara to at least some of the Objectors and residents appears relatively routine.  They say that their clients had have recently submitted plans for a solar farm, near Pontypridd, to the Welsh Government. This follows community engagement earlier in the year where local residents gave their input on the design of the site and the benefits it could bring.

Well, did you take part in the community engagement? You might have missed it… Local residents apparently did – one group described only “very limited engagement” with “objections treated with dismissive scorn and smug grins…” (Part 1). But perhaps it was other residents they engaged with in some meaningful way? Few even knew about the proposal at that time – very under the radar, but then it was presented as a fait accompli. Perhaps strangely, Quatro don’t report the specific inputs from this round of engagement…

Our Green Future

Quatro then claim that the solar farm will support our green future and RCT’s and wider Wales’ urgent pledge to reach net zero. But as Cymru already produces twice as much energy as it needs, any more would surely be surplus and irrelevant, not to mention an uneconomic use of resources. This is supposedly the rationale for the proposal, but it looks particularly schonky to me – would you buy a Sydney Harbour Bridge (slightly used) from this company?

How this will play during the Welsh Government’s assessment will be at least interesting. Many more litres of greenwash may be anticipated…

And a Partridge in a Pear Tree

Quatro then focus on the genuinely real benefits of the proposal – new habitats for local wildlife and more hedgerows. While the site includes a large area of grassland habitats (for periodic grazing and already home to wildlife), there is limited tree cover.

The new habitats will include eight birdboxes, eight bat boxes, three hedgehog boxes, six bee banks, four reptile hibernating spots, and three insect hotels.

One would reasonably expect the wildlife to be grateful – let’s hope that the plantings are well maintained for them beyond the short-term, when carping critics will have departed…

Significant investment in the local community

But it’s not as if local people will miss out. Quatro speak of a community benefit fund worth more than half a million pounds. Nadara said up to £581 000 which amounts to £45 a day over the life of the project. Or about £0.019 per RCT resident per day. Will you notice any benefit?

A more apt comparison might be with the annual revenue of Rhondda Cynon Taf Borough Council over the next 35 years – a minimum of £668m – which then funds community services. Nadara’s offer represents the equivalent of 0.087% of the revenue.  So not very significant, really.

Incidentally, Quatro don’t mention any tax that Nadara may or may not pay, nor where it may be paid. Certainly not Cymru and possibly only token amounts in the UK…but the Governments may well be relaxed about that. After all, there is apparently no mechanism for RCT BC, the Welsh or UK Governments to recoup any of the planning costs that the first two will pay.

Support for local businesses

Again, it will be interesting to see how Quatro’s claim of new jobs is authenticated and quantified. We can concede there will be jobs. In construction, one could reasonably anticipate that Nadara would utilise existing teams they have trained and deployed on other sites, possibly a handful of locals. In operation, maybe three solar panel cleaners (probably local) and a supervisor (not).

Given that the area available for sheep-grazing will be reduced by all the habitat planting and the solar farm itself, one might anticipate that the farmers would have a reduced need for labour. They would be adequately compensated though by the rental income from the site. Hmm.

The demand on local supply chains for, say, metal supports for the solar panels, the construction of a small building on site and the provision of lunches for site workers would surely be readily accomplished without the expansion of the local workforce.

The solar panels will be manufactured elsewhere, probably abroad. They may be transported by local firms, so that’s something, I guess.

I estimate that the number of jobs the site will create is up to 20 during construction (18 months?), and perhaps 5 during operation. But let’s see what Nadara say, if the Welsh Government cares to ask.

In fact, it is a characteristic of high investment, high energy projects to employ very few people. Inanimate energy substitutes for human labour at every opportunity. The growth agenda is not designed to create employment!

Good Intentions

Goodwill from Nadara is clearly in short supply, so it was refreshing to note Quatro’s pledge to being a responsible neighbour and to work closely with the local community. What that means might just be leaflets through the door, after the horse has bolted and planning permission has been granted, but undoubtedly each will be greeted with excitement and gratitude.

Conclusions

Quatro’s shallow contribution has added little, if anything, to earlier public relations efforts by Nadara. Just reinforcing the message, I guess. Say it often enough and enough people will believe it… Lipstick on a pig comes to mind.

Although Quatro invite questions, the real questions about a scheme being visited on Cymru that has no discernible benefit to us (like many others) but substantial to Nadara are probably well above their paygrade. And the DNS process may well ensure those questions are not asked and not answered.

Expect more blather from energy ministers, rationalising the further exploitation of our Cymru. Please remember this in the Senedd elections next May.