A Cwmbran man who has worked as an ecologist for 30 years has raised serious environmental concerns about the three planning applications to build 21 wind turbines across sites on Mynydd Maen and near Cwmcarn and Hafodyrynys.
Thirteen wind turbines are proposed on the hillside overlooking Cwmbran by RES, a renewable energy company.
The application has been designated as Development of National Significance. This means that Ministers in the Welsh Government will decide to approve or refuse it.
Cwmbran Life asked Kris Roberts to talk about the ecology of Myndd Maen and the impact of a wind farm.
He said: “Renewable energy is the way to go. I’m not disputing that but when you think about it, as an ecologist over the last 30 years, I’ve been protecting that type of habitat, sort of dwarf shrub heath, peat bogs, because of their high priority for conservation.
“Welsh Government have had targets to protect that habitat, enhance it and restore it and that’s what we’ve been doing. Now with all these wind farm applications, as well as solar farms, we’re losing habitats all across Wales.
“People are not aware of it and we’re losing these habitats which could be potential climate change adaptations features, so habitats we could store water in. They’re sort of habitats we store carbon in and so on and it’s got a lot of biodiversity value. We’re losing those on a grand scale.
“The accumulative effect of all of that is biodiversity is going to suffer so it’s not just the fact it’s in my back garden it’s the fact that I’m concerned for Wales really losing biodiversity and eco-systems.
“I’ve done a lot of work with the [Mynydd Maen] commoners over the years and we’ve put a commoners’ innovation plan together and part of that plan was to manage those habitats sustainably and bring back some of the wildlife. We’ve got a lot of rare birds up there like hen harrier.
“We’ve seen white-tailed eagle flying over lately which has just been introduced to Britain.
“There are not that many of them so you wouldn’t have seen them ten years ago.
“This is the thing we’re worried about if you put 150m turbines there, 21 of them, a lot of these migratory birds and birds which have been reintroduced to Britain could find themselves in the blade and bird strike is a big issue because we don’t know enough about the birds that fly over Mynydd Maen. We haven’t got the information that we need to assess whether those turbines could have an impact or not.
“So we’re doing all this across Wales and there could be a huge impact on designated species birds. If you think about the Gwent Levels, all those birds migrate inland. In the spring they go and maybe nest in the mountains.
“So putting those turbines right on top of the uplands in Wales doesn’t really fit with that. The developers haven’t done a proper localised habitats regulation assessment to assess whether those turbines will affect the Special Areas of Conversation and Special Protection Areas within 20 to 30km of Mynydd Maen.
“On top of Myndd Maen there is a lot of rock outcrops. There is a big limestone escarpment across the top and it’s very rocky but in amongst those rocks, the deeper bit where peat has formed within the wet heath and the heather and this is what collects our carbon.
“So when they put a 150-metre turbine up they they have to put a big haul road up the mountain first to get all the machinery in and they also have to have three quarries.
“They call them ‘borrow pits’ so they’re going to be eating into quarries to get the stone to make the roads which is going to be huge. And when they do get on the top they’re going to 21, 20 by 20 metre bases of concrete. They’re going to have to dig down about five metres to put it in. They’re going to have to put in a load of metalwork to reinforce the concrete.
“And we all know concrete isn’t good for carbon emissions. So much for being carbon-neutral.
“The main planning application [for Myndd Maen site] has just been recalled because it didn’t have sufficient information so we’re waiting for that to come through again but the other ones are online now and there is an objection site.
“I think for me, it’s not the fact that the visual aspect of it because I quite like the look of turbines. There is nothing wrong with them. But a lot of people have lost a lot of open space in the urban areas of Cwmbran.
“A lot of people go out and exercise on the mountain and look at wildlife. That space is being lost. The applications will be fenced off, bridleways will be squeezed in, any footpaths will be squeezed in, views will be gone. People going up for picnics and things like that, it’s not going to be the same anymore. You’ll be restricted to where you can go. A lot of the sites will be dug up.
“There is a species called the great crested newt. I thought we had one in Torfaen, one single animal. This was 20 years ago in Henllys. We’d go there every year to find this one lonesome great crested newt. I think it was about 18 years-old. We’ve been trying to create more ponds, improve their habitats.
“This goes for Cwmbran, Pontypool and Blaenavon. We’ve been working with the commoners to create more ponds. Now they’ve gone up there to do the survey work they’ve found out that some of this work has actually worked, finding great crested newts and they want to put the haul road right in between the network of ponds.
“To do that without even assessing the situation on great crested newts and finding out how many are there and the impacts on those then I’ll always be against it.
“There’s loads of reptiles up there. We’ve got slow worms, lizards, grass snakes, adders, and they’re pretty much everywhere up there. It’s going to be a lot of habitat for them to lose and when we are just getting to know what we’ve got.
“It’s going to change the hydrology.
“We’ve already got flooding issues on our rivers and streams. People are being affected. In my opinion, I think that 21 turbines with these huge concrete bases are going to exacerbate the problem. A lot more water will run off the mountain into these small streams, a lot more trees will be lost into these streams and rivers and it will have an impact on the environment outside the footprint of the development.
“My job as part of the Myyndd Maen Group is to go through all of the information like the environmental impact assessments and any other technical information and find gaps, which there are many, and make sure the planning application doesn’t get approved until the information we need is in there.
“At the moment Torfaen people are not getting the right deal and could lose a lot of wildlife. We could lose habitat along rivers if it doesn’t go right in terms of hydrology.”
More information on the Mynydd Maen wind turbines
- Click here to visit the RES website.
- Click here to visit the Mynydd Maen Wind Farms group’s website.