The Welsh government has been accused of spoiling the Welsh countryside with wind farms to spite the English.
Cardiff is pressing ahead with onshore wind farm developments when it could explore more offshore projects because it does not want to send fees to the Crown Estate or share control of projects with the UK Government, campaigners have warned.
Fay Jones, Conservative MP for Brecon and Radnorshire, criticised the Welsh government for taking a nationalist policy stance on green energy.
She said: “It doesn’t seem to have offshore in its sights because it won’t derive all of the benefit from that.”
The Crown Estate is the ultimate owner of around half of the coastline and seabed around England, Wales and Northern Ireland (a separate entity, the Crown Estate Scotland is the equivalent north of the border). This means it collects fees from the development of offshore projects.
The Welsh government’s Future Wales strategy document said it supported offshore wind but that these projects did not fall within its remit.
Plaid Cymru, the junior partner in the Welsh government’s coalition deal, has called for the Crown Estate to be devolved to Wales.
Ms Jones said: “If we put those two things together, then you can see the Welsh government’s thinking on this.”
Plans are underway for a major onshore wind farm development at Radnor Forest in her own constituency.
Ms Jones added: “People absolutely hate this project. It tells you a lot about how the Welsh government sees rural Wales as just a cash cow.”
The Welsh government has denied that it is anti-offshore wind. A spokesman said: “We are strong supporters of offshore wind, including floating offshore wind in the Celtic Sea, and have been pressing the Crown Estate to develop a long term plan to secure green energy in a way that can bring economic benefits to our communities.”
Ross Evans, of the Campaign for the Protection of Rural Wales (CPRW), a Welsh countryside charity, said: “There is a reluctance to get behind it [offshore wind]. The biggest reason is because they haven't got control over it because it is up to the Crown Estate and the UK Government for the major projects offshore.”
He said there is also a risk that offshore projects will not count towards the Welsh government’s green energy targets if they come ashore in England.
He added: “They just want Wales to be a net exporter of energy and sod the rest of the UK, that is the impression I get.”
Wales currently produces 30TWh of energy. At the moment, this is roughly double how much it uses, but demand is expected to triple to 45TWh by 2050.
CPRW argues that all of this increase in demand could be met three times over by offshore projects. Current proposals for offshore power projects in the Irish and Celtic Seas could generate 100 TWh of energy. Onshore projects, by contrast, will only generate 25TWh.
Please also see the following post by James Evans MS who is the Welsh Conservative member of the Senedd for Brecon and Radnorshire. In this constituency, Bute Energy has designs to desecrate and destroy the ancient domed hills of the Radnor Forest along with a number of others, including Gilvern Hill and Aberedw Hill with “energy parks.”
In the case of the Radnor Forest, Bute Energy has plans to construct 36 x 220m (721.8ft) tall industrial wind turbines along with some 100-200 hectares (257-494 acres) of solar arrays plus battery banks and what would necessarily be a huge substation for what they have named, incorporated as “Nant Mithil Energy Park.”
According to Bute Energy’s presentation boards used for their initial non-statutory “public consultation” in September 2022, their chosen site for Nant Mithil Energy Park atop the Radnor Forest comprises 1,922 hectares (4,749.365 acres). Approximately 80% of this is outside of the pre-assessed area deemed suitable for wind and solar development as identified by the Welsh Government and the consultants they employed, through desktop exercises.
Please watch the video below of James Evan’s questions to First Minister Mark Drakeford and the Welsh Government’s Minister for Climate Change, Julie James.
James Evans MS asks the First Minister for an update on the Welsh Government’s position on Bute Energy/Green GEN Cymru’s proposals for pylons across Mid Wales. The First Minister confirmed that the proposals are likely to be a development of national significance and as such the Welsh Government will be decision makers on such developments. James went on to question the First Minister and ask for assurances that the Welsh Labour Government will listen to communities and follow planning advice on these proposals. James is honouring his pledge to local communities by raising this in the Senedd. The following day, James had the opportunity to once again quiz the Minister for Climate Change Julie James MS on the pylon proposals. Welsh Government’s policy on new power lines is that they should “go underground where possible” and she dismissed concerns that this development was largely outside of pre-assessed areas saying “this does not mean they can’t go anywhere else”.
James Evans MS said:
“The response from the First Minister was very telling as he stated, ‘any decisions are challengeable in the Courts and open to judicial review’. We know from experience of judicial reviews that this process rarely changes decisions.”
“The Minister for Climate Change response was also disappointing. What was the point of the pre-assessed areas and the National Development Framework if anyone can apply outside of these areas. Its yet again a Welsh Government policy which is not worth the paper its written on”
“As I said in the Chamber, I am concerned that anyone with a large enough cheque book can do what they want in Mid Wales! I am yet to receive assurances from either the First Minister or Minister for Climate Change that local voices will be heard and taken into account in this process.”
Did you hear what Julie James said at the end?
I am the planning Minister. The decisionneeds to be made properly in a quasi-judicial mannerand that is what we will do.
A quasi-judicial manner?
The term, “quasi” in combining form means “apparently but not really; seemingly.”
Translated this would mean that the Welsh Government’s planning decision regarding Bute Energy’s plans to destroy the landscape and environment of the Radnor Forest will be done in a seemingly but not really judicial manner.
This is a perfect example of the state of democracy in Wales today. It doesn’t exist.
Given what happened with notorious Hendy Wind Farm which happens to be directly across the two-lane A44 from the Radnor Forest, the Welsh Government’s seeming intentions come as no surprise.
It is with good historical reason that the Welsh Labour government which is housed in Cardiff Bay has earned the moniker, Corruption Bay.
Those of us who live here don’t just hate Bute Energy’s plans for the Radnor Forest, we are extremely angry about it. We are angry about all of Bute’s plans for some 21 “energy parks” in Wales, plus 60 plus miles of pylons running from the stunning Radnor Forest through breathtakingly beautiful landscapes to a substation in South Carmarthenshire which does not currently exist .
For more information about Bute Energy and Hendy Wind Farm, please read the following detailed post:
