May 2014
Dear Mr Poulter,
Re: The Mid Wales (Powys) Conjoined Wind Farms Public Inquiry
Further to my submission to the Inquiry last month, I wanted to take this opportunity to set out my position in writing. The scale of wind farms, and their associated infrastructure for Mid Wales, has wide ranging long and short term implications. There are many personal views and deeply held feelings, which I know have been effectively communicated to the Inquiry over the course of its hearings. I will focus pragmatically on some of the most compelling pieces of evidence which have been put before me both by constituents and people with extensive knowledge of this issue.
Over the past few years I have attended many community meetings and large scale demonstrations all about a single issue. The threat of the ‘industrialisation of mid Wales’ has galvanised residents and communities across Montgomeryshire like no single issue has in recent history. It is impossible not to recognise the strong and united local opposition to these proposals that has grown over recent years.
As the Assembly Member for Montgomeryshire I wish to represent fairly the views of my constituents. It is important that I am proportionate. There are a number of people in Montgomeryshire who are committed supporters of the applications that are the subject of this inquiry and I have met with my constituents that hold these views. I also want to acknowledge the tireless efforts of the ‘Alliance’ and the scores of community groups who have come together to raise awareness, to campaign and to make sure that the voices of local people are heard at Council meetings, the Houses of Parliament and the Senedd.
Opposition to these particular schemes, and to the proposed proliferation of wind turbine construction in mid Wales, does not mean opposition to wind energy as part of a diverse green economy. As always, it is a matter of scale. The strength of local feeling is driven in part by the sheer quantity of turbines and the geographic concentration on a relatively small area. These factors will have several tangible negative impacts on the local economy and on residents’ quality of life.
I am sure that the inquiry has received extensive evidence which deals exhaustively with the many and varied potential impact of these proposals, so I intend just to highlight some of the key areas.
Tourism is an incredibly valuable driver of Montgomeryshire’s economy. I am aware that the Inquiry has looked into the value of tourism and I would draw particular attention to this paragraph in a report by Jill Kibble, a senior manager who has overseen a number of local authority and European scale programmes (ALL-S4-P04-04):
1.22 Calculating the value of accommodation for an area within a 15km radius of the SSA B and C boundaries and using the standard Welsh Tourist Board formula and a conservative occupancy gives a value of £43 million pa. The importance of this area to the local economy is evident.
Taking this into account, I would reflect on a study by the Mountaineering Council of Scotland, to which I referred in my oral submission, which found a considerable 67% of respondents claiming that the “industrial scale of wind farms” make Scotland a less attractive place to live. I want again to highlight the phrase ‘industrial scale’ in particular, which I believe is especially relevant, given the size of both the projects and their ancillary infrastructure over a relatively small geographical area.
The aesthetics of wind farms are a highly charged issue, with strong feeling on both sides of the debate. However, looking at it from an objective standpoint, I am concerned by the empirical evidence which suggests that the over proliferation of wind farms and associated infrastructure could devastate a vibrant local economy.
Mid Wales is a key transport artery connecting England with the Welsh coastline, with visitors breaking their journey at picturesque Montgomeryshire towns such as Welshpool and Newtown. Building the turbines will be a significant engineering task on an industrial scale, with the largest proposal before us expected to use over 17,000 cubic metres of concrete. The road infrastructure system in mid Wales is just not able to deal with the vast number of abnormal indivisible loads required to construct the amount of wind farm applications that are being considered. There would have to be considerable adaptation and upgrading of the current road network and in addition to that, multiple other access roads would need to be constructed to accommodate the lorries and cranes required to carry the turbine-related infrastructure if the applications are approved. We could expect extensive construction and devastating disruption for local people, businesses and tourists for years to come. This disruption will affect both regular visitors who have holiday homes here and those who are passing through. The extent of this disruption is particularly concerning given the great number of local people running businesses in the tourism industry in Montgomeryshire.
Following a recommendation to the Welsh Government from the Assembly’s Environment and Sustainability Committee, on which I sit, a report was commissioned from Regeneris Consulting, which has previously examined the potential beneficial impact of onshore wind, and The Tourism Company. One of the main concerns highlighted by the report was the lack of ‘robust evidence’ makes it challenging to assess the impact of the proposed development:
xv. The evidence base for tourism impacts of associated infrastructure is far less developed than that for wind farms. The few studies which have addressed the subject have focused on visitors’ opinions of pylons, which consistently find that reactions are far more negative than toward wind turbines. This strong feeling toward grid infrastructure presents an increased risk for those areas where new pylons are proposed alongside considerable wind farm development, particularly North Powys.
Though some attention has been paid to the significant infrastructure which will accompany these developments, I am concerned that alongside the construction and the turbines themselves, it is the vast accompanying structural network which will be most definitive irreparably changing the landscape of Montgomeryshire.
The report also thought it likely that whilst the concentration of wind turbines in mid Wales was relatively low, greater numbers of turbines led to tourism ‘displacement’, which the authors believe is ‘likely to be the case in Wales’. This is particularly concerning given the importance of the tourism industry to mid Wales’s economy.
Aside from the economic impact on businesses, concern has also been raised as to the long term health implications of these proposals on residents in Montgomeryshire. Specifically, increasing evidence suggests that low level noise disturbance, especially significant in areas of low background noise such as rural mid Wales, has the potential for considerable negative health impacts.
This is very relevant to the projects currently under consideration and was noted by point 53 of a 2012 report produced by the National Assembly Petitions Committee – of which I am a member - into the control of noise nuisance from wind farms. During the inquiry stage of this report, we as members of the committee travelled across Wales and took evidence from members of the public affected by these challenges.
As a result of the evidence we heard, the committee recommended that the Welsh Government should amend Statutory Planning Guidance to introduce buffer zones that maintain the current 500 metres minimum distance between dwellings and turbines, and increase the separation distance as appropriate, and in specified circumstances up to 1500 metres, according to environmental factors such as the topography and the ambient noise levels of the area.
There are further reports concerning sleep deprivation – one resident said:
“If all of this was to be for just a few months during construction, then maybe, just maybe, it might be acceptable, but surely not for the next 25 or more years.”
The committee made a number of recommendations, including that ETSU-R-97 guidelines are revised to take into account the lower ambient noise levels in rural areas and the latest research and World Health Organisation evidence on the effects of noise on sleep disturbance. A joint study by the Universities of Manchester and Sheffield showed Powys to be one of the happiest places to live in the UK. It is important that this quality of life is not reduced for residents. An authoritative study by a research institute at the London School of Economics demonstrated that the construction of wind farms near a property can reduce its value by more than a tenth, and constituents have approached me having taken advice from professional agents who have noted an effect on house prices locally.
I commend this inquiry on the work that it is doing and on its engagement with the people of mid Wales. I feel that setting all other points aside, what I must do is give voice to all those in Montgomeryshire who have made their views known. I attended a meeting of all Powys County Councillors in 2011, which was also attended by over 1,500 people who came to view the deliberations. All but one councillor voted in favour of a moratorium against all wind farm development in mid Wales. Further, they called for a review into the environmental, socio-economic, community, health, ecological, transportation, cultural and cumulative impacts of the construction of wind turbines and their necessary infrastructure; and that the Welsh Government carry out a full cost-benefit analysis of wind farm energy production compared to alternative sources of energy. In my experience, politicians want to reflect the views of the people they represent. Each Councillor that supported the motion supported it believing that they represented the views of those living within their Council ward, those who will ultimately be affected by the decisions made by this Inquiry.
I therefore submit that the five applications before the Inquiry should be rejected for the reasons set out above, and for those added below:
- The unacceptable impact on the highway network
- The unacceptable landscape and visual impact of the applications
- The significant potential detriment to the local economy as a whole, and particularly to tourism as a keystone industry in mid Wales
- The detrimental impact on interests of cultural heritage
Kind regards,
Russell George AM