Brecon & Radnor Branch of CPRW

Some of our neighbouring counties over the border in England are also concerned about the proliferation of Intensive Poultry Units (IPUs) in our landscape, with the impacts of ammonia, nitrogen deposition and phosphates on biodiversity and human health, and the consequent deterioration of rural living conditions and our rural landscapes.

In Spring 2019 four of the NGOs who have these concerns met in Shropshire to discuss the issue. These organisations were the Herefordshire and Shropshire branches of Campaign for the Protection of Rural England (CPRE), Shropshire Wildlife Trust (SWT) and us, the Brecon & Radnor branch of Campaign for the Protection of Rural Wales (CPRW).

CPRW already have a database of IPUs in Powys and have published various maps on our website (here and here) illustrating the issue in our county. The two CPREs and SWT have also been developing a comprehensive record of IPUs in their own counties.

It was agreed at the meeting to form a combined CPRE/SWT/CPRW team to rationalise and consolidate the various IPU datasets across the counties, and to build on CPRW’s work by developing some combined maps from this data to illustrate the IPU issues across the three counties.

Therefore here is some further background to the project, and our first few combined cross-border IPU maps, with data to hand as at July 2019. We hope you “enjoy” them!

I am sure that members and supporters will be wondering what is going on with our legal challenge against Lesley Griffiths’ decision to allow wind farm construction to proceed against the recommendation of both our County Council and the Independent Inspector’s Report. We are still waiting for a decision from an Appeals Court Judge. We have been waiting since March, when our lawyers filed our Appeal against refusal of permission to proceed with the challenge. Of course we are keeping our fingers crossed and all hope we can take our challenge forward.

Meanwhile the developer is continuing to submit applications to discharge pre-commencement conditions in a fantastically haphazard and lackadaisical manner. Their claims to have ‘kept local communities closely involved’ are as hollow as their ‘respect for the environment’. These conditions should have been discharged before any work began but Powys Council found it “expedient” not to enforce against construction of Turbine 5.

Our dedicated volunteers have been taking Powys Council planning department to task on each of these conditions. See letter complaining about the changes to the development, lack of plans and piecemeal nature of what ought to be a watertight and well-thought-out Planning Application for such a massive project.

We would be most grateful if you can think of any charitable or representative body (e.g. Wildlife Trust or Community Council) that would write to Powys Planning Department to reinforce this plea for proper planning procedure.

The recent refusal of the M4 Newport Relief Road is a powerful reminder that we have to have the heart to play a long game.

With best wishes and thanks again to all for your support.

Jonty Colchester
Chair, Brecon and Radnor CPRW