Support us from £3/month
We deal with almost 1000 cases a year assisting communities, groups and individuals in protecting their local spaces and paths in all parts of England and Wales. Can you help us by joining as a member?
We have objected strongly to a planning application from RWE npower to site 16 wind turbines, with tracks and infrastructure, on Mynydd y Gwair common, a majestic hillside eight miles north of Swansea. There have been a number of turbine applications here in the past to which the society has objected.
This is registered common land and the wrong place for such development. These turbines would be a brutal eyesore in this rural landscape. It is astonishing that the developers can claim that the turbines ‘will not conflict with the open-access common land and other public rights of way’. How can people possibly enjoy their rights to walk and ride over this land when there are 16 wind turbines, with all the additional paraphernalia, plonked down there?
This is a wonderful open hillside with spectacular views, especially valuable because it’s so close to Swansea.
The development cannot take place on common land without the consent of the Welsh Government under section 38 of the Commons Act 2006. Indeed, we believe that for a development of this scale, the applicants should in law seek an exchange of common land, but of course they would not be able to provide compensating land which is of such value to the public.
Swansea Council has been robust in refusing such applications in the past and we trust it will do so again.