Protesters fight plans for ‘tallest wind farm’
A CAMPAIGN group has come together to protest against plans to build the UK’s tallest wind farm in South Wales.
The Y Bryn onshore wind farm proposes 26 wind turbines of up to 250m each, making them the UK’s tallest onshore wind farm structures.
The firm behind the plans insists is listening to people’s concerns.
However, more than a thousand locals have joined the Stop Y Bryn Wind Farm group – expressing concern about the site’s heritage, loss of outdoor space and environmental fears.
Morgana Thomason, 51, from Bryn, started the petition to stop the construction of the wind farm.
She said: “My concerns mainly relate to the impact on our environment and the whole infrastructure for the wind farm. I worry about their transportation impact on the road network and their place in relation to soil.”
Andrew Thomas, who joined Morgana as a campaign leader, felt obliged to get involved when he heard the proposals.
He said: “The main issues are all environmental factors, if we’re honest, which sounds quite strange given that wind turbines are meant to be a solution to our environmental issues and energy concerns.
“We’re talking a region of land that historically has a lot of mining history. Those mining areas have not been mapped out extensively, so nobody really knows where those mining shafts are. Each one of these turbines is going to weigh in excess of 700 tonnes and that’s not taking into consideration the weight of the foundation base as well as the concrete.”
Other concerns relate to possible damage to the area, as well as the harm it could cause to wildlife.
Andrew explained: “Each of these turbines is going to take up a massive area of land, which is going to result in the destruction of the woodland. They’ll even have to create roads across the mountain region to transport the materials to put the turbines in place, taking up more green space. “We seem to be using more and more power, and not thinking things through and thinking for the long term, really. We need to just be coming up with sustainable answers rather than living sustainably to begin with.” Trevor Hunter, Y Bryn project manager, said: “The deadline has recently passed on our first phase of consultation on Y Bryn.
“We were really pleased with the level of engagement and grateful for all the feedback, which included a wide range of views.
“We’ll be working on analysing all the comments as we refine our proposals ahead of a second phase of consultation later this year.
“The feedback received, along with the results of ongoing survey work and assessment will help us shape the proposals and provide answers to some of the queries raised during the initial consultation.
“We look forward to discussing our refined scheme in the autumn.”
Each of these turbines is going to take up a massive area of land, which is going to result in the destruction of the woodland
Andrew Thomas