Brecon & Radnor Branch of CPRW

CPRW Brecon and Radnor Branch: Communication to Membership

As you are all well aware, and many of you have already generously contributed towards the fund for legal fees for this action, CPRW B&R served papers on 6 December on Welsh Government and Interested Parties for a Section 288 Review of the Minister, Lesley Griffiths’, incomprehensible decision to allow the Hendy Wind Farm development.

As you are also well aware this challenge is being overtaken by events.

The construction work at Hendy/Llandegley Rhos began on 20th November immediately after submission of applications to discharge conditions, and continues at breakneck speed, at nights and at weekends, with no regard for permitted hours of work. The developers are evidently determined to erect one turbine before the end of January in order, it seems, to be eligible for government subsidy.

Works have taken place on the Llandegley Rhos common and more are proposed for which no planning consent has been applied for or obtained. Construction teams have been pile driving on the wind farm site and concrete is now arriving on site for the first turbine base.

This work is being carried out without any of the pre-commencement planning conditions being discharged. These conditions are all binding and the Minister’s consent is contingent upon the conditions being satisfied in full and discharged.

While heroic demonstrators at the site have done their best to delay these works on common land, we have made repeated representations to Powys County Council to enforce a halt to these illegal works without any tangible result. On 6th December Powys informed residents that the developer had been ‘advised to stop’ but that no enforcement notice had been issued. Since then the council have professed themselves unable to get ‘evidence of unacceptable harm’ – which Planning Officers maintain to be a requirement for enforcement action.

We have set out that the Council has applied the wrong tests re enforcement action and has misinterpreted material points of law to reach their decision not to enforce against construction works, which are of themselves unlawful because they have not followed approved plans, and are being undertaken without discharge of pre-commencement conditions.

We have this morning served on the Council a pre-action protocol letter, addressing the legalities of the Council’s position on enforcement. In it we demand that effective enforcement action is undertaken by the end of this week or that we will forthwith issue proceedings against them for a judicial review of the enforcement function.

It seems that the developers, Powys County Council and the Welsh Government consider they have no need to heed or uphold the law. With your help we are going to make them feel the full force of it.

Jonathan Colchester – Chair B&R CPRW

Dear All,

For urgent action! Please pass on this urgent message on, and don’t forget to write in yourself! Thank you.

This just came to our attention last night: Lesley Giffiths’ decision to approve the Hendy Wind Farm is to be challenged by an amendment in Welsh Assembly Plenary session next Tuesday (20 November). This just underlines the importance of her decision to flout the Planning System and Local Democracy. See how you can help below.

With National CPRW’s help, the Brecon and Radnor Branch, often co-operating with Montgomery Branch, has

• Raised public awareness of the stealthy introduction of huge wind and solar “search areas” all over the wildest and most beautiful parts of Powys into the LDP;
• Fought to improve the Powys LDP at the Inspector’s Examination with the help of a barrister, resulting in abandonment of all wind and some solar “search areas”;
• Worked with local residents to fight against Hendy Wind Farm which application was eventually turned down by Powys Planning Committee;
• Raised awareness of the Developer’s Appeal against the Powys refusal;
• Held a Starling-Watch day to bring crowds to see the vast starling murmurations settle to roost on Llandegley Rhos, the Hendy Wind farm site;
• Engaged a barrister and landscape consultant and provided our own witnesses throughout the two weeks of the Inspector’s Public Inquiry.

The Planning Inspector recommended the Appeal against refusal of the Hendy Wind Farm be dismissed because the landscape and ancient monuments of Llandegley Rhos outweighed any benefits of the 7 turbine Wind Farm.

Lesley Griffiths, Minister of Energy, Planning and Rural Affairs summarily over-ruled him. If this decision stands, no Welsh landscape outside National Parks and Designated Areas is safe from large-scale industrialisation however much it is valued by Welsh people. Please help CPRW do all we can to stop it.

All this has cost a huge amount of time, energy and emotional resource for us and our many supporters. The planning process has also cost the public purse dearly. Please tell our politicians what you think and ask for their support.

HENDY WIND FARM DECISION: HOW YOU CAN HELP
On Tuesday 20th November there is an opportunity to put pressure on the Welsh Government concerning Lesley Griffith’s decision to overrule the Planning Inspector’s dismissal of the Hendy Wind Farm Appeal following the vote by Powys County Council Planning Committee to refuse the application in September 2017.

The Senedd is holding a Plenary session on Tuesday 20th November at 13.30pm.

Item No. 9 is a 60 min debate: ‘How to achieve a low carbon energy system for Wales’.

Amendment 3 to this debate has been tabled by Darren Miller (Clwyd West) calling on the Welsh Assembly:
“to reconsider Lesley Griffith’s decision to allow the Hendy Wind Farm application against the decisions of both the Powys County Council Planning Committee and the Planning Inspectorate.”

Please send an e-mail to Brecon and Radnor A. M. Kirsty Williams, who rightly objected to this development at the planning stage:
kirsty.williams@assembly.wales or correspondence.kirsty.williams@gov.wales.

Ask her to vote for this amendment in the Senedd on Tuesday and to stand by her original objection to the Hendy Windfarm development. Her vote is key in this matter.

She is keeping the balance of power for the minority Labour government, who will be whipping their members on this amendment.

Kirsty has the opportunity either to vote in the interests of her constituents and to stand up for local democracy and the legitimacy of the Powys LDP, or to take the Labour Party whip to support Lesley Griffith’s unprecedented decision, which as it stands, creates open season on development anywhere in Wales by setting the precedent of overruling both the Planning Inspectorate and local planning policy thereby undermining the democratic process of the planning system.

We have four more A.M’s representing us for Mid-Wales. They should also be lobbied. Please write to:

neil.hamilton@assembly.wales
eluned.morgan@assembly.wales
joyce.watson@assembly.wales
helenmary.jones@assembly.wales

You could also write to AMs in other parts of Wales – this decision sets a precedent for the whole Welsh Countryside.

Thank you.

Dear Member,

Despite all our efforts, and your magnificent and generous support,

Welsh Government Cabinet Minister for Energy, Planning and Rural Affairs, Lesley Griffiths, has approved Hendy Wind Farm at Llandegley Rhos.

In her decision released on 25/10/18, she has chosen to disagree with her appointed Planning Inspector, Hywel Wyn Jones, whose report following the March 2018 Public Inquiry was delivered on 11/5/18.

In his carefully argued 115 page report, Planning Inspector Hywel Jones set out the urgent need for renewable energy but concluded that the harm to landscape and historic assets on this particular site outweighed the benefits. He emphasised that he was assessing the proposal in the light of the Welsh Well-being of Future Generations Act and the recently adopted Powys Local Development Plan. From the Inspector’s report:

“…the extent of harm to the landscape and historic assets leads me to conclude that the scheme fails to strike an appropriate balance between promoting renewable energy projects and protecting these interests as sought by national policy. It follows that, when taken together, the combined harm to landscape and heritage matters significantly outweigh the identified benefits.”

 “As I have reached the conclusion that the harms caused by the development would clearly outweigh its benefits I consider that it fails to accord with the wide reaching aims and objectives of the WBFG [Well-Being of Future Generations] Act.”

No attempt had been made to justify the rejection of the Inspector’s findings beyond the need to serve the ‘national interest’.

This is a disgraceful decision and your committee will shortly inform you of our collective response.

We will fight on, including considering legal options.

I am very sorry to have to give you this dire and troubling news.

Jonathan Colchester

CPRW Brecon & Radnor Branch Chairman

 

Documents: Inspector’s Report

Hendy Wind Farm Limited – Welsh Ministers decision letter

 

On 22nd May, our petition was handed in to the Welsh Assembly Petitions Committee, having attracted 4,567 signatures, mostly from Wales and neighbouring English border counties.

We very much welcomed the help and support, both drafting the petition and collecting signatures, of a number of environmental NGOs. These included the Wildlife Trusts, in particular the Radnorshire Wildlife Trust, Plantlife, the Woodland Trust, Countryside Restoration Trust, Campaign for the Protection of Welsh Fisheries, the Angling Trust/Fish Legal among others as well as a number of high-profile environmental campaigners.

The petition has been mentioned in the local press, on radio and online and seems to have focussed some much needed political attention on the urgent problems surrounding these developments. To see how the debate is evolving, please see the following links:
• 30th April: Letter from Lesley Griffiths, Cabinet Secretary, to David Rowlands, Chair of the Petitions Committee;
• 30th May: CPRW B&R to David Rowlands, petition evidence provided in response to Lesley Griffiths letter of 30 April;
• 5th June: Senedd TV Petitions Committee debate and minutes of the debate;
• 12th June: Letter from Welsh Government’s Chief Planning Officer to County Council Heads of Planning.

The Chief Planning Officer’s letter sets out the need to ‘exercise particular care’ when considering applications close to sensitive environmental areas or to homes and schools, and also the need to consider cumulative impacts. While this is most welcome, the letter only addresses the range of problems associated with these applications in very general terms. It remains to be seen whether it has an impact on planning decisions.

During the continued consideration of our petition, we hope to see:
• acknowledgement of the multiple failures in the determination of these applications;
• stricter control of impact on the non-designated natural environment, including ancient woodland;
• clear guidance on the division of responsibility between NRW and determining LPAs;
• NRW acting up to its responsibility to reverse the decline in biodiversity by maintaining objections where negative impacts are likely;
• an end to reliance on conditions which LPAs have no realistic means of effectively enforcing.
• development of guidance on human health issues including proximity to residents;
• a biosecurity policy for minimum separation of intensive poultry developments according to type;
• clear guidance on how LPA decision-making must address cumulative impacts of multiple intensive livestock units on the natural environment and residential amenity;
• Welsh Government and Natural Resources Wales address the issue of the lack of effective regulation of intensive poultry units for fewer than 40 thousand birds;
• development of effective regulation to address diffuse agricultural pollution, along the lines of that in place in England and Scotland;
• funding of research to improve the evidence base for assessing the true environmental impacts of intensive livestock farming;
• A moratorium on approval of applications to allow assessment of the cumulative environmental impacts of IPUs already existing – see Wales Environment Link position statement.

Thank you for your support.

We will be continuing to campaign!

CPRW Brecon & Radnor branch has made a petition to the Welsh Assembly Petitions Committee about better regulation of the Intensive Poultry Farming Industry in Wales to protect the environment for future generations. Please follow this link to see and SIGN THE PETITION.

Petitioning the Assembly is one of the most direct ways in which members of the public can raise matters of concern or suggest new policies and different ways of doing things. If we can collect 5,000 signatures or more, the Petitions Committee will automatically consider requesting a plenary debate – where all 60 Assembly Members will be able to discuss the issue.

We have tried to discuss the risks with Powys Planning Authority and done our best to achieve better regulation via the emerging Powys LDP but, so far, the rate of approval has not changed and the Council have rejected the idea of a proper policy to provide environmental protection and clarity for all parties.

Our data about applications to Powys Planning Department for Intensive Poultry Units shows that there have been 99 APPLICATIONS in the last 30 months with ONLY ONE refused. We produced an interactive map of all Powys applications known to us which can be freely accessed with a lot more information on our website. There are now (including units in planning) 7 million chickens in Powys at any one time.

Free-range egg developments, which make up 72 of the 99 applications, are usually too small to require an NRW permit (threshold 40,000 birds) and yet, according to research by NRW to be published very soon, they are even more environmentally damaging than the larger broiler units.

Ammonia concentrations and nitrogen deposition in much of the Powys countryside are now surpassing the critical levels for some rare lower plant species to survive but yet more intensive farms are being crammed into saturated areas. Our steep valleys and high rainfall mean that effluents and manure are running off into the rivers. Chicken farms are being approved regardless of inappropriate sites near sensitive rivers and ancient woodlands, inadequate range-sizes, proximity to neighbours and the cumulative impacts they will have with all the nearby chicken sheds.

The Brecon & Radnor Branch joins with the Montgomery Branch to ask you to PLEASE SIGN THE PETITION and publicize it as widely as you can in your own area to help make this industry safer and more sustainable for all of our Welsh countryside.

Thank you.