POWYS LOCAL DEVELOPMENT PLAN THREAT TO THE NATIONAL PARK
Late changes to the Powys Local Development Plan, imposed by the Welsh Government, include a radical new renewable energy policy for Powys (including that part of the county lying close to the Brecon Beacons National Park).
The new renewable energy policy differs dramatically from that put forward in earlier versions of the Local Development Plan in two main respects:
- Introduction of a renewable electricity generation target of 600MW, 12 times the previous target of 50MW!!
- Eleven “Local Search Areas” have been added to the three existing “Strategic Search Areas” for large wind farms
These changes mean that around 40 % of all the land in Powys (outside the Brecon Beacons National Park) has been included in areas for Wind and Solar energy generation where there is a presumption of planning approval.
These changes are likely to mean that there will be even more large scale wind farm developments across Powys, which already generates more electrical power from renewable sources than its total electrical energy use.
Many of these developments will be highly visible from within our National Park.
Although the BBPS strongly supports appropriate renewable energy generation schemes (especially micro-hydro) these high impact changes to the protection of landscapes on the borders of our Park are a matter of great concern.
To learn more about this threat and how to respond to the consultation on this latest version of the Powys LPD (which closes on the 21st Nov) please see the CPRW (Brecon and Radnor) web site –