We fight devastation of Radnorshire’s jewel
3 November 2014
We have objected to two applications from Hendy Wind Farm Ltd to devastate Llandegley Rhos Common for a wind-farm on adjoining land.
The company wants to build seven wind-turbines on land to the west of the common, obliterating the view to the striking Llandegley Rocks, five miles east of Llandrindod Wells.
Llandegley Rocks: this view could be obliterated by the wind turbines.
Photo: Diana Hulton.
Because it intends to create access-tracks for heavy construction-vehicles across the common, the company needs the consent of the Welsh Government for works on, and exchange of, common land, in addition to planning permission.
Llandegley Rhos Common is a jewel in the crown of Radnorshire. It should be retained as an entity, for its beauty, landscape qualities and wildlife habitats and for public enjoyment. Instead it could become an industrial site in the heart of this deep countryside. People have the right to walk over the whole area, without restriction.
We objected to the planning application for the turbines and ancillary development. Now we are objecting to the proposed works on common land.
The company has sought consent from the Welsh Government for works on common land under section 38 of the Commons Act 2006, to upgrade the existing access track on the northern side of the common, including a wheel-wash facility for lorries, and temporary fencing.
It has also applied under section 16 of the Commons Act 2006 to deregister part of the common on the south side, to enable it to widen the byway to carry abnormal loads. It has offered in exchange a paltry piece of land in the forestry plantation to the south. This land is separate from the common and can only be reached from the byway. It is among ranks of conifers with no views and offers a boring experience compared with the lovely open common it purports to replace. The swap is unfair to the public and those with rights of common. We consider it to be unacceptable.
The plans conflict with the Welsh Government’s policies for common land which are to ensure that the stock of commons is not diminished, any works maintain or improve the condition of the common and confer a wider public benefit, and any use is consistent with the land’s status as common.
These proposals fail on all three counts. We have urged the Planning Inspectorate to reject them.
We are backing Penybont Community Council and many local people in fighting these plans which will blight this quiet and immensely beautiful part of Radnorshire.
I wish to put on record my agreement with the arguments put forward by Open spaces Society in relation to the proposed wind farm turbines which are mentioned. I object also very strongly to application for De registering of common land required to facilitate said turbines. I back Penybont Community Council in their efforts to protect this land and views.
It is extraordinary that windfarms are still being used as a symbol of “greenness” when actually the opposite is true, if all factors are accounted for. Embodied carbon in the manufacture, transport, siting, infrastructure roads, associated pylons, and conventional power stations kept on tickover to cover for windless days, means that CO2 emissions from windfarms in remote places are significantly higher – over and above the emissions that windfarms are purported to compensate for.
Many regard the aesthetics of landscape as the poor relation to objectivity in arguing the case for or against, but really, this has to be one of the worst, clumsiest acts of abject vandalism I have ever seen. If this scheme goes ahead, then I fear for similar landscapes suffering the same fate.