OBJ/606/001

Evidence for the Public Enquiry Session 3 from Kerry Community Council

The council has already made its submission to the public enquiry about the proposed wind farms in SSA C, but now it wishes to express its views on the Llandinam Power Line.

Kerry Community Council is one of the largest in Powys and covers the villages of Kerry, Dolfor and Sarn. It contains 1286 households. Part of the community borders SSA C.

In order to represent our electors as fairly as possible the council carried out a survey of residents’ views about wind farms and the power line. A questionnaire was distributed by post to all households and they were invited to return their views to a “Freepost” address. 458 households responded, giving a response rate of 37%. Up to 790 residents expressed their views. The responses were counted by members of the council in the presence of an independent scrutiniser.

The questionnaire asked three questions, as follows:

1. Do you support the applications to build 5 large wind farms in Mid-Wales?

2. Are you in favour of Scottish Power’s plans to build a line of separate wooden pylons to connect the Llandinam Wind Farm with the Welshpool substation?

3. Are you concerned about the effect of windfarm construction traffic on the roads of Mid-Wales?

Furthermore a space was provided for residents to express their personal opinions.

The Public Enquiry has already been presented with the outcomes of the survey, but they are repeated here for convenience. The results of the survey were as follows:

Question Yes No Don’t Know 1. Do you support the applications to build 5 15.6% 81.3% 3.0% large wind farms in Mid-Wales?

2. Are you in favour of Scottish Power’s plans to build a line of separate wooden 14.4% 79.8% 4.8% pylons to connect the Llandinam Wind Farm with the Welshpool substation?

3. Are you concerned about the effect of windfarm construction 77.3% 21.2% 1.5% traffic on the roads of Mid-Wales?

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Because power lines are a direct consequence of wind farms it can be difficult to separate arguments into those that relate to wind farms and those that relate to power lines. Kerry Community Council is clear however, we oppose the power line that will pass through our area and as a consequence we oppose the building of wind farms that will necessitate that power line.

The council has already made its objections to the wind farms but wishes to make the following points about the Llandinam Power Line.

The results of our survey show that nearly 80% of respondents oppose SPEN’s plans for a power line from the proposed re-powered Llandinam windfarm to Welshpool. The following concerns were raided by residents:

• the significant damage caused by the proposed power line the quality of the intensely rural Mid-Wales landscape. It would blight the historic Kerry Ridgeway and many ancient, narrow lanes; • tourism plays a large part in the local economy and the presence of a large number of wooden pylons would discourage visitors from walking the Kerry Ridgeway and other routes in the area; • the effect of pylons on the value of nearby houses and • the possible effects of the electromagnetic radiation generated by the transmission lines on human and animal health.

Of the 15% of residents who supported the power line none advanced a reason for their support.

The council has been a consistent and strong opponent of the application since it was first laid before the council in 2008. It is worth noting that that the Kerry Hills, through which this line would run are contiguous with the Shropshire hills. The landscape quality of these hills is the same on both sides of the border, but in England the landscape is protected by its “Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty Status”. We make this point to stress the very high visual quality of the landscape that this application would affect. We believe that SPEN had chosen the cheapest route, rather than the most environmentally friendly option of exporting the power.

One of the original grounds, on which the council opposed the application, was that SPEN should wait until the details of the proposed Mid Wales Hub were clear. To the council it seemed be common sense to have a strategically planned network connecting the proposed wind farms, but the company has consistently refused to do this. We have concluded therefore that the application is a, ”quick fix”, attempting to bring the re-powered Llandinam wind farm into service sooner than would be possible if it were forced to wait for the Mid Wales Hub and the rationalisation of feeder lines. The council opposes this line which it sees as a way of a large company increasing its profits, in the short term, to the detriment of the Mid Wales landscape.

The council has opposed unsightly pylons and insisted that the lines should be underground, irrespective of the cost. Recently SPEN has proposed undergrounding some sections and then rejected it on the ground that its client (of which Scottish Power is a part owner) is unwilling to bear the additional cost. The council see this as a cynical piece of political manoeuvring. It notes that Celt OBJ/606/001

Power is happy to receive a subsidy for operating its wind farms, but is unwilling to use any of its additional revenue to offset the damage that its power line would do the environment of our village.

Recently SPEN has changed it argument to justify the line; according to them the line is now needed to, “strengthen” the distribution network. There was no mention of this at the outset and it is hard to see what additional capacity is needed in the Newtown area, given the sad decline in Mid Wales industry. Neither does the area suffer from frequent power cuts. We believe that this is the company responding the strength of the argument for delay and has nothing to do with the needs of the supply network in the area.

Maps show that SPEN’s line passes very close to one of the connections to the hub at Cefn Coch. Clearly this would be a more cost effective solution to exporting power from the proposed Llandinam site. The council believes that SPEN is trying to strengthen the case for this line, so that their, part owned company Celt Power, can re-power its station in advance of others in Mid Wales and so gain commercial advantage. In other words the needs and interests of the people of Kerry are being put second to the short term financial interests of a large multi-national company.

Consequently Kerry Community Council re-emphasises its total rejection of the need for SPEN’s Llandinam line and urges the inspector to reject this unnecessary development.