Thursday, July 18, 2013

Vatterfall Wind Power Ltd sidesteps local opinion

Received a nice innocent seeming letter from a Swedish energy giant today. As always with these giant energy subsidy junkies, these 'nice' letters are not what they seem. Vatterfall Wind Power Ltd has withdrawn Planning Application No M20070972 - a planning application for a under 50 mw wind farm in West Montgomeryshire. Such applications are dealt with by Powys County Council, the Local Planning Authority. For those of us who are opposed to desecration of the Mid Wales landscapes by multiple wind farms and National Grid pylons, this is bad news - because Vatterfall is submitting an over 50 mw wind farm application instead.

The new planning application will not go before the Local Planning Authority at all. Because its over 50 mw, it goes directly to the Secretary of State at the Dept of Energy and Climate Change. And the reason behind this is that Vatterfall think the Sec of State will ignore local opinion. This cynical move will be dressed up to demonstrate that its actually beneficial to the area!Its the way they tell 'em. Its a straight forward strategy to circumvent local opposition by going direct to DECC, which it knows cares not for local opinion or landscape or disturbance to populations in areas like Mid Wales, which are of no consequence. What really grates on me is that I will have to sit in Parliament listening to DECC Ministers talking about this lunacy as wonderful investment in rural Wales.

 Personally, I do not think we will recover any sort of control of our own destinies until DECC is would up. The takeover of our lives by the EU has nothing on the bullying domineering attitudes of DECC, with its advance attack units of foreign owned giant subsidy swallowing energy companies and the even less responsive National Grid.

5 comments:

Anonymous said...

Do you mean '...until the DECC is wound up' Glyn? Is there any hope of this at all? I am so disheartened about the way Wind Power generation is being handled: with utter disregard for anything that really
matters!

Anonymous said...

It's the bl**dy LibDems led by the lunatic Ed Davey who are ultimately to blame for the desecration of Wales - look what they are doing to the Cynon Valley now? And Ed Davey has been there spouting on about the "benefits" and so called jobs the biggest wind farm in Europe will bring to the area. But then it's just Wales, and no-one outside of Wales gives a toss. Same old story. Lets dump on the Welsh - who cares?

Anonymous said...

So it's been taken out of Welsh (local) determination and given to UK determination? Sorry Glyn, but your party has been stubbornly opposing devolving these energy planning powers to Wales. You've been worse than Labour, and that's saying something. The national level that the big projects should go to, should be the Welsh level. Easier to lobby a Welsh DECC than a UK one. I also find it amusing that Tory Ministers keep claiming to be anti-wind...but that the wind farms are still going up.

Richard B said...

Glyn. I totally share your dismay. But surely the planning application must first be heard by Powys CC in the first instance ( such as the current 6 applications now subject to the conjoined Public Inquiry ) ie if rejected by Powys it would automatically go to another Public Inquiry or I missing something here

Pete said...

The applications will go in front of the local authority anyway and in the case of Powys they will be rejected, Powys will spend a fortune on a Public Inquiry, the Alliance will fund raise and employ an expensive Lawyer, the middle class (non local) pensioners will have their fun so what's the problem??