Add your voice to say ‘NO!’

to Bute Energy’s Nant Mithil Energy Park on Radnor Forest.

CPRW and ReThink are working together – help is here!

PEDW (Planning and Environment Decisions Wales) has opened the public consultation for Nant Mithil Energy Park.  The strict deadline for responses is midnight on Tuesday 23^rd December.

Where exactly is Nant Mithil Energy Park ?  (see map at the end)

On Radnor Forest in E. Powys.  BUTE have misleadingly named their windfarm after a small brook in the protected “Nant Mithil and Cwm Blithus SSSI” where turbines wouldn’t be allowed.

What does this mean and what can I do about it?

This means there is a very short window to submit strong evidence-based objections.

Perhaps you wrote an objection letter during the developer’s obligatory public consultation from  May to June in 2024.   These responses went to BUTE ENERGY,  who were supposed to heed them in finalising their application. BUTE wrote a report to PEDW but didn’t have to send the objections on.

Now PEDW has accepted the final application, you need to object AGAIN, this time, to the Planning Inspector who will decide whether to recommend Approval or Refusal to the Welsh Government.  

This is our last and main chance to stop Nant Mithil & scupper the neighbouring BUTE plans.

We urge you to write as soon as possible before your Christmas arrangements take over.

What is the development?

The proposed development would introduce 30 turbines up to 220m high, larger than anything currently built in Wales or England, in the sensitive landscape of the Radnor Forest, along with 21 kilometres of new access tracks, extensive destructive groundworks and hardstanding, compounds, substations and cable routes. This is an industrial-scale scheme in an entirely inappropriate, highly valued traditional setting.  It threatens enjoyment of our landscape, our wildlife and precious habitats, and the wellbeing of local communities. Red lights would shine high in our dark skies.

All this would change Radnor Forest forever and open the door to more development beyond.

Do I have to live nearby to object?

No. Objections are welcome from anyone who values this countryside and all it contains— not just local residents.  It is worth including how it affects you – perhaps enjoyment of your home and garden, outdoor and nature-based activities, tourism income, work and travel to work or it may be a  favourite holiday place.

I have already objected to this development, does my previous letter count?

No. You will need to submit your objection to PEDW.   You can include whether BUTE has listened to your 2024 objection in designing the final project.

Can it be the same letter as I previously submitted?

As long you phrase it around material planning considerations and check that it is all still relevant after the changes, see our suggestions below*.

I can’t find my original letter

Check your emails from nant.mithil@bute.energy titled Survey Submission Confirmation . This should contain a copy of your original response with the confirmation of your previous submission.

Where do I send my objection?

This goes directly to PEDW.  Quote DNS CAS-01907-D7Q6Z1- Nant Mithil Energy Park

• Use the Planning Casework Portal https://planningcasework.service.gov.wales/case/CAS-01907-D7Q6Z1 You will need to sign in to send your objection (“representation”).
• Or send by email to: PEDW.Infrastructure@gov.wales.  Ask for acknowledgement of receipt.
• Or post to Planning and Environment Decisions Wales, Welsh Government Offices, Cathays Park, Cardiff, CF10 3NQ.  Ask for acknowledgement of receipt.

What shall I say?

There is lots more detailed help and information on the Re-Think website.

We can’t provide a standard template letter of objection because the Inspector discounts repetition and multiple copies   All letters should be in your own words about things in the application which you find unacceptable.  These should also count as “material planning considerations” upheld in Planning Law, Guidance and previous Appeals. 

*Valid reasons to include in your objection

• Impacts on Residents’ living conditions, visual intrusion, turbine noise, private water supplies  
• Access to site and transportation, disruption, noise and delays, road widening, river crossings
• Landscape and visual impacts
• Impacts on protected species and loss of habitats
• Geology, Hydrology, Hydrogeology and Peatland, carbon losses
• Public Rights of Way, enjoyment of Radnor Forest, arrangements for Common Land
• Impact on the local tourist economy and well-being of communities.

We advise looking at Site Layout and Zone of Theoretical Visibility figures and reading the simple Non-Technical Summary.  You can choose chapters from the Written Environmental Statement and any Appendices for topics you want to explore further.  You might want to keep in mind:-

• BUTE wants approval for 2 separate long distant access routes and two separate site entrances. There are no details of how these large turbine parts will navigate the Welsh roads.  We need to know the environmental impacts of the plans before any decision.
• BUTE does not want to tell us exactly how much damage will be done by constructing the tracks, stream crossings and hard-standing over the slopes of Radnor Forest.  The devil is in the detail but we only have general models which would do for any windfarm anywhere.
• BUTE wants to postpone as much work on the project as possible to after the decision.  Planning conditions requiring various investigations and detailed plans for construction and ecology would be managed by Powys County Council. But then it will be too late. We don’t think Powys has the capacity to do all this work. 
• Nant Mithil would have a cumulative impact with other projects blighting the whole area from Kington to beyond Builth Wells – this has not been properly described.
• With a Nature Crisis and giant wind farms on every hill – what will happen to protected natural species and upland habitats?

The documents are scattered and awkward to find on the PEDW Nant Mithil web-pages.

Volume 2 has Figures.  Volume 3 has Appendices with numbers matching the Written Environmental Statement Chapter numbers.  Volume 4 has Viewpoints.  The Site Layout,  Non-Technical Summary, Written Environmental Statement and a Figure showing where you will see the turbines are available here:

• Site Layout
• Non-Technical Summary
• Written Environmental Statement
• Figure showing where you will see the turbines

 Nant Mithil is one of 5 windfarms in a 25 km string from New Radnor to south of Builth Wells, all in the catchment of the protected River Wye. The GGC line runs from the Wye catchment down the Towi Valley through Llandovery. It does not follow the River Usk.

DNS CAS-01907-D7Q6Z1- Nant Mithil Energy Park

BUTE’s proposed Nant Mithil wind farm has 30 turbines up to 220M high which could be the very first this high in England and Wales

APP/T6850/A/17/3176128 – Hendy Wind Farm

Hendy Wind farm with 7 turbines 110M high, developed by Bute connections which have subsequently been severed, was finished in 2021 but has no grid connection so has never worked.

DNS CAS-03010-F0X0Q1 – Bryn Gilwern Energy Park

BUTE’s proposed Bryn Gilwern wind farm has 16 turbines up to 220 M high at the very centre of the unique Heart of Wales Geopark.

DNS CAS-03009-N5D9K8 – Aberedw Energy Park

BUTE’s proposed Aberedw Hill wind farm has 18 turbines up to 200M high on a steep-sided hill overlooking the Royal Welsh Showground in Builth Wells

DNS CAS-02388-W7G1H4 – Banc Y Celyn Energy Park

WIND 2’s proposed  Banc y Celin wind farm has 27 turbines up to 200M high south of Builth Wells across the Wye valley, opposite Aberedw Hill, bordering the Senny Bridge Training Area.

DNS CAS-02379-G1Z1J0 – Green GEN Towy-Usk Project

GreenGenCymru (GGC), a sister-company hived off from BUTE, wants a 132Kv 96km electricity line on pylons connecting the three BUTE projects to a substation near Carmarthen