Mynydd y Gaer and Windfarms - History
In 2006, the Welsh Government engaged with Ove Arup and Partners to carry out a strategic study of areas across Wales to assess their suitability for the construction of large-scale windfarms.
The study looked at the previously determined Strategic Search Areas (SSAs) identified in Technical Advice Note 8 (TAN 8) with a view to developing 'Preferred Areas' for windfarm construction. In total, 62 zones were derived across the whole of Wales. Of these zones, 11 were dismissed as 'intrinsically not suitable for strategic windfarm development'. Mynydd y Gaer was one of these areas and was specifically 'considered unacceptable in landscape terms as 'turbines on this ridge would be likely to have a dominating effect on the rural settlement of Glynogwr to the north and on rural settlement to the south'.
Moving the Goalposts
In 2019, a second report from Ove Arup was commissioned by The Welsh Government. This report concerned itself with refining the areas originally described in TAN 8 and later expanded by SSA report mentioned above.
The output from this report was a recommendation that the previous boundaries for development areas be expanded and be assigned a new 'Pre'Assessed Area' classification. It is important to understand that this classification does not mean that planning permission is automatically granted when proposed developments fall within the area - it means that the route for planning permission shifts to government and not the local authority. The proposed development is still subject to the same criteria for suitability as before - and nothing has changed in this respect.
In our case this is important because of its previous classification for unsuitability. When Mynydd y Gaer was dismissed as unsuitable, Ove Arup did not carry out any environmental, historical or ecological studies (as they did with all other areas) because they felt that the landscape assessment was enough to wholly discount it (this was at a time when the turbine size was a maximum of 125m tall - not the 185m being proposed now). It is as unsuitable now as it was in 2006.
Current Status
The latest policy regarding windfarm development is to be found in the Welsh Government Future Wales - The National Plan 2040 document. Policy 18 of the Plan clearly states 'Irrespective of location or scale, the design and micro-siting of proposals must seek to minimise the landscape and visual impact, particularly those in close proximity to homes and tourism receptors. Both within and outside Pre-Assessed Areas, communities should be protected from significant cumulative impacts to avoid unacceptable situations whereby, for example, smaller settlements could be potentially surrounded by large wind schemes'.
With existing large windfarm to the north and east of Glynogwr and Blackmill, it seems that this policy exclusively written with Glynogwr and Blackmill in mind.
Conservation
The Future Generations Commissioner for Wales produced a State of Nature Report in 2023 (TP25999-State-of-Nature-main-report_2023_FULL-DOC-v12.pdf (stateofnature.org.uk)) which highlighted some very alarming statistics. Among these were the recognition that Wales is one of the most nature depleted countries in the world, with 1 in 6 species facing extinction.
According to official conservation records, there are over 700 species on Mynydd y Gaer. Of these, 93 are priority species and species of conservation concern. 19 of these species fall into the most sensitive category.
Coity Walia common comprising Mynydd y Gaer is one of the last wildernesses remaining in Bridgend County - it beggars belief that we would even consider desecrating this - even if there was a benefit to the local community. IN the absence of any tangible benefits, the loss of this landscape is nothing short of scandalous.
Wales has a long history of having its natural resources being exploited - whether that be through the slate mines in the North, coal mines in the south, the flooding of villages to build dams or the loss of over 90% of our land to agriculture. We can all agree that the shift to clean renewable energy is critical for the planet but we must be mindful that we strike a balance between what is needed to replace fossil fuels and what is needed to turn a profit.
Map of Proposed 180m High Turbines
