Proposed Wind Farm.
Information suppiled by Gwent Ornithological Society...January 2004....
Red Grouse...Lapwing...Sparrowhawk...Peregrine...Grey Partridge...Snipe...Tawny Owl...Long Eared Owl...Green Woodpecker...Skylark...Tree Pipit...Meadow Pipit...Grey Wagtail...Redstart...Whinchat...Stonechat...Wheatear...Pied Flycatcher...Linnet...Redpoll...Yellowhammer...Reed Bunting...Siskin...Little Owl...Raven...Buzzard...Cuckoo...Kestrel...Great Spotted Woodpecker...Curlew...Grey Heron...Barn Owl...Hen Harrier.
The Following occur and may breed.
Goshawk...Merlin...Woodcock...Short Eared Owl...Ring Ouzel
Addition for Webmaster....Each summer Red Kite's have been spotted flying over the valley and we must not forget the other wildlife, such as Fox...Rabbit...Fungus ...insect...and the many plant life, all have the right to live inthat area.
Don't destroy what nature has returned to us.
Controversial plans for a wind farm on mountain of Mynydd James have once again been rejected on the location too near the communities and the stability of the mountains.
November 2008
Planning application by Pennant Wind Energy Ventures for a wind
farm on Mynydd James is to go through the planning committee of
Blaenau Gwent County Borough Council at 2pm on Friday 7th November.
As this has only come to the attention of residents of the area this
week, there is very little time to spare if anyone wishes to object.
At a meeting of SCAM (Save Coity and Mynydd James Mountain) this
evening (5/11/08) held at St Peter’s Church, Blaina, many people
raised their concerns and there was a decision that as many
protesters as possible were to attend at the Civic Centre in Ebbw
Vale on Friday to raise awareness to the councillors and planners of
the strength of feeling about this proposed blight on our
landscapes.
The organisation S.C.A.M. (Save Coity and Mynydd James) now have
a website at www.saveourvalley.co.uk.
The Windfarm issue could have an enormous adverse effect both
Cwmtillery residents as well as the ones in Blaina.
We have a public meeting at St Peter’s Church Blaina on Weds 26th
Nov.
Councillors will be paying a site visit to the mountain on Fri 28th
Nov and the making a decision on whether or not to grant planning
later that day.
The implications if these plans were to go ahead for these turbines
in such close proximity to residential areas are too horrendous to
contemplate. (Lots of info about it on the website)
October 2006...
THE next meeting of SCAM will be held
in The Theatre of Abertillery Comprehensive School on October 3 at
7.30pm.
Please make every effort to attend this meeting to make your views
and feelings known with regard to Windfarms.
September 2006...
Public meeting held by SCAM (Save Coity and Mynydd James Mountain) on the 6th September 2006 at St Peter's church Blaina.
Excellent and well attended meeting was held on the 6th to discuss any issues people may have regarding the proposed wind farm on the Mynydd James Mountain. Don’t worry if you could not attend because a further meeting will be held at Abertillery Comprehensive School in the near future. The Planning application and photo’s showing the approximate location of the 4 Turbines were available for viewing by those attending.
Many of the concerns raised, were those raised at the last planning application when “Pennant” wanted to erect between 20 and 30 wind turbines each with a height of 100metre.
Noise:
the turbines can be noisy, not in terms of outright decibels but a
constant drone.
Shadow Flicker:
the setting or rising sun on a direct line of sight from you past a
turbine can produce shadow flicker.
Property Devaluation:
do wind-farms cause property
devaluation? Unsurprisingly developers say no, those in wind-farm
areas say yes.
Environmental Damage:
huge concrete bases are required to support these large structures.
The turbines can kill birds,
especially raptors, and bats.
It’s been 25 years since the coal industry ceased and the landscape
and wildlife have now returned. We have Red Kites flying in the
Cwmtillery valley, but for how long?
I think the main issue to come out of the meeting is: if you are opposed to the planning application and want to make your concerns known, please write to the planning office ASAP.
Planning Enquiries,
Mrs Eirlys Hallett Team Leader Planning
Control
01495 355511
eirlys.hallett@blaenau-gwent.gov.uk
Do it now before it’s too late.
If anybody who attended the meeting wishes to add any further comments to this, please let me know via my e-mail address.
August 2006...
Windfarm planning
Application....Here we go again
C/2006/0380
17/11/2006
Pennant Wind Energy Ventures Limited Hirwaun House Hirwaun
Industrial Estate Hirwaun CF44 9UL
EC02 Limited 8th Floor, Brunel House2 Fitzalan Road Cardiff CF24 0EB
Full with Environmental State
Construction Of A Wind Energy Project Consisting Of Four (4) Wind
Turbines, Anemometer, Control Building, Access Tracks, Temporary
Crane Hardstanding, Temporary Compound And Other Ancillary
Equipment.
Mynydd James, Near Abertillery
ABERTILLERY CWM
Planning Committee
September 2005...
Windfarm plans withdrawn
South Wales Argus
Thursday 29th Sep 2005
PLANS for a bitterly opposed windfarm
in Blaenau Gwent were withdrawn by the developers - but they still
intend to submit another proposal, on a smaller scale, for the same
site.
Wind Energy Ventures first put in an application to Blaenau Gwent council for a 24-turbine windfarm - on Mynydd James and Coity above Cwmtillery, Blaenavon and Blaina - more than two years ago.
They said it would generate enough renewable energy for 20,000 homes. But the plans prompted huge protest from local people across the area, who were worried the turbines would be an eyesore.
A spokeswoman for Blaenau Gwent council said yesterday: "The developers acknowledged their proposal for a windfarm on Coity Mountain/Mynydd James would not fit in with the new policy on renewable energy recently published by the Assembly.
"The developers have indicated that
it is their intention to re-design the scheme."
A spokeswoman for Pennant confirmed
yesterday the company was committed to making a new planning
submission at the "excellent site". "The requirement to redesign to
a smaller scale now affords us the chance to work with all
consultees again to address remaining issues - and find the best way
forward at the windiest site in south-east Wales," she said.
"Naturally we are disappointed that the 50 permanent jobs that would have been created in Blaenau Gwent upon commissioning of the project, and up to £4 million in community benefit, will be delayed at the very minimum."
Cwmtillery councillor Mark Holland
said: "I am saddened that they are going to pursue this.
"This is an excellent site for the
people of Blaenau Gwent, too, and we want to keep it for our
enjoyment.
"As far as we are concerned the fight
will go on. We are against this at this location."
Cwmtillery resident Brian Paget added:
"We are still against these turbines altogether.
"We have just got the countryside back
to how it was before the Industrial Revolution."
He added that because there had been
little wind during the summer months the turbines would have been
inactive much of the time.
"And in the winter the storms will be so strong they will have to be turned off," he claimed. "When would they supply the power they are supposed to be supplying?"
May 2005...
Two Web Sites you may find interesting,
At website
www.socme.org
The Duke of Beaufort, as landowner,
wishes to build a large wind power station on the profoundly
beautiful and historic Mynydd Y Gwair (The Hay Mountain), North
Gower. The developer is National Wind Power.
At website
www.bmpg.co.uk
The Betws Mountain Preservation Guide
(BMPG) web site was built following a press release on November
26th, 2003, that a major wind power station developer was keen to
develop an unspecified number of wind turbines on Betws Mountain.
February 2005...
SCAM...A meeting will be held by SCAM, on the 24th February 2005
in the Workmen's Institute (Division Street). If you any
comments to make on the proposed wind farms please come along, make
your views know.
December 2004...
Just in case anyone fails to read the Gwent Gazette this week,
Pennant have resubmitted the planning application for the proposed
wind farm above Cwmtillery/Blaina. The notice for the application is
dated 14 Dec and people have 21 days to object - how convenient that
the local authority closes for the Christmas/New Year hols this week
and doesn't reopen until 4 Jan - the date by which objections must
be registered!
October 2004...South Wales Argus
Proposal for a second mountain wind farm.
A Second windfarm could be built on
the mountains of North Torfaen.
Mold-Based company West Coast Energy Ltd is proposing to develop a
wind farm on Twyn Du, the mountain between Garndiffaith and
Abertillery.
An earlier planning application, from Pennant Wind Energy, to build a wind farm on land near Blaenavon is due to be determined by Blaenau Gwent Council in January.
This new scheme could mean up to 18, 100-metre-tall masts generating 20 megawatts of power which could serve 1,5000 houses per turbine. Most of the development would be within Torfaen with some in Blaenau Gwent. West Coast sited a meteorological mast or anemometer on Twyn Du over a year ago. It measures wind speed and direction to assess if a wind farm would be cost effective. Steve Molloy, Project Manager at West Coast Energy, said it was likely the company would submit a planning application to Torfaen council after the Pennant application was determined.
“If the other scheme goes ahead we would have to talk to the local authority to see if it would be over-developing the site to have a second wind farm” said Mr Molloy.“ If it doesn’t go ahead we will see what we can do differently.” He said the company would put money into a community trust fund which would be used on the local schemes should it get the go-ahead.
August 2004...
News
of the World 22nd August 2004
Wind farms Blown out... Ministers are to
scrap plans to build hundreds of giant wind farms across the
country. The move follows a huge pubic backlash – led by Prince
Charles who called them an “horrendous blot on the landscape.
Instead they are looking to wave technology – harnessing the power
of the sea – to produce electricity at half the cost of wind.
May
2004...
This weeks "Gwent Gazette" made interesting
reading…..
Peter Law, the Blaenau Gwent Assembly Member has decided to
speak out against the proposed wind farm. He also backs the suggestion that the
council should conduct an advisory poll throughout the affected communities. Mr
Law feels that the proposed site, is located too near the
communities and the stability of the structures on the mountains that are known to have geological
faults. He also viewed is concerns on the possible reduction in property value,
the intrusion of noise and the movement of equipment through the Cwmtillery
Valley.
Question. I'm sure loads of people are glad you have spoken out
at long last, but this campaign opposing the wind farm has been going on for
months now (Do you know something we don't)? 
Other
letters includes most of the areas people are apposed to and are regular
debates found in local papers.
** Approx 14,500 leaflet drop to homes and
business premises (By the way you forgot to deliver mine) asking how they would
like to spend the money offered by Pendragon Wind Farm. What a pity we were
never asked, " Whether we want the wind farm".
** Those letter writers from
outside the affected area that have nothing but praise for the Wind Farm.
Please write to Pennant and have a turbine built in your back garden.
**
Will the council ever tell us "How many letters opposing and how many in favour
of the Wind Farm have been received?
** We would expect a significant
reduction in our council tax. Yes and that's could be because of the lower
property value we would suffer because of the Wind Farm.
** Some of these
Turbines would be erected to near the rights of way, stopping us walker using
the land we have the right to use
** It will provide very little for the
affected area, but line the pockets of the company, shareholders and property
tenant.
** If this Wind Farm is allowed onto these mountains, it will be
the thin end of the wedge and eventually they will appear on every ridge
throughout the valleys. "Note the Temporary erection of Anemometry Mast at Twyn
Du, Moorland between Blaenavon and Abertillery" by the company Renewable
Development Co Ltd.
Telegraph Posts are use daily by the council to
advertise "Planning Applications" so why is it that leaflet opposing the
Wind Farm that are placed on Telegraph Posts, Ripped off by council workers. Was
this a any other business at the councils team brief.
Lots of interesting
debates against the Wind farm, most with concerns and unanswered questions.
This seems to be the trend in the local papers every week. But I never see any
comments from the council, why?
S.C.A.M. (Save Coity And Mynydd James group) presented Steve Smith ( planning officer at Blaenau Gwent Council) with a petition of more and 1,000 signatures and hundreds of letters of opposition from concerning members of the communities of the Ebbw Fach Valley..
The Blaenau Gwent Federation of Tenants and Residents Groups, has voted unanimously to oppose the proposed Wind Farm development. The federation also urged its 20 or so member group in the borough to fight the controversial scheme.
March 2004...
March 6th 2004...Leaflet outlining objections to the erection of wind turbines on the top of our mountains were delivered to homes all around the area this weekend. If you object to these wind farms, please send in your objections either direct to the Borough Council, or drop off at Ted’s newsagents (Foundry Bridge) Holland’s Garage (Tillery Street), St Paul’s church (Cwmtillery) This N That Fashions.
What's in the Leaflet...
Say No to this Wind Power Station on the beautiful mountains above, Brynmawr, Nantyglo, Blaina, Cwmtillery and Abertillery in the Ebbw Fach valley and directly above The World Heritage Site at Blaenavon.
| Visual Impact | Adverse Environmental Impact | Plummeting House Prices |
| Mountain Instability | Damage to Health | Noise |
| No Cheaper Electricity | Death of Birds & Wildlife | Damage to Infrastructure |
Mr Smith Blaenau Gwent County Borough Council. Planning Department Enterprise House, Rassau Ind Est, Ebbw Vale, NP23 5DD.
Also you should write to your Borough Councillors
See above and local press for your list of SCAM drop off points for your letters.
I attended my second meeting of S.C.A.M. (Save Coity And Mynydd James group) this month and found the support against the Wind Farm has grown 10 fold.
It was a very interesting meeting and with possible health, sun flicker, low frequency and environment issues, all top of the discussion list.
Also talked about was the possible second and third Wind Farms in the area. It seems Pennant is NOT the only Wind farm company interested in the area. West Coast Energy, have already erected an anemometer mast on the "Coity Mountain" (October 2003 below).
"Is this the start of a second Wind farm", or just rumours?. West Coast would like to erect Wind Turbines from Abertillery down to Newbridge, following the eastern mountain range, it was said.
Also waiting in the wings, "again rumour has it", is another company which would like to erect Wind Turbine on the Arrael mountain (Opposite Rose hey worth) from Aberbeeg up to Blaina/ Brynmawr.
The only thing I can find to support any of this, is the anemometer mast on the "Coity Mountain" belonging to West Coast Energy. If this is true, we could find Wind farms all around us and not just Cwmtillery?
February 2004...
Having attended the Public Display showing the Proposed Wind Farm in the Ebenezer Church Abertillery on Monday February 2nd. I can now add a few Question and Answers given by Pennant Wind Energy Ventures representatives.
Q) I asked, "What route will the 56 ton lorries take to reach the mountain tops?
A) Proposed route via Gwern Berthi road, with an alternative route, via the back road behind Gwern Berthi passing the Cwmtillery Ind Est and rejoining mid way across West Bank.
Q) The plans show that by the slip, you will follow the road sharp left and then sharp right on to the concrete road. Would your large lorries be able to manage the sharp bends?
A) Well, we may have to make access through the small woodland at the bottom but we will restore any disturbed site to its original condition.
Q) You then follow the concrete road up past the old Red Ash level, around to the left, still on the concrete and up the steep hill near the top of the quarry on to the mountaintop. "Do you think the quarry will take all the vibration?
A) We have had a survey done.
Q) I have estimated 50 concrete lorries are needed for each Turbine Base - that equates to 1200 lorries, as well as the machinery that needs to be brought in. Not forgetting the 75, 56-ton lorries?
A) Yes that's about the right number, between weeks 10 and 48, approx 45 vehicles will enter the valley per day and of course 45 vehicles will leave.
Q) How long will the Wind farm take to construct?
A) Approx 52 weeks.
Q) My house insurance will not pay out for Subsidence Damage. Will a survey of all Gwern Berthi and West Bank property be carried out before your vehicles move in?
A) No, But if enough people write into the Planning office with Subsidence worries, the planning office can add a clause into the plans, insisting that surveys be carried out, prior to work commencing, of all properties which may be affected. The company would have to pay the costs.
The address is:- Mr Canney Blaenau Gwent County Borough Council. Planning Department Enterprise House, Rassau Ind Est, Ebbw Vale, NP23 5DD
I think the one most important answer here, is that relating to the Subsidence. I am certainly writing my letter to the Planning office ASAP. I suggest you do the same.
Ebenezer Church Abertillery on Monday February 2nd between 2.30pm and 8pm.
St Peter's Church Station Road Blaina on Thursday February 5th between 2.30pm and 8pm.
and Brynmawr's St Mary's Church on Saturday February 7th between 10am and 4pm.
If you love the area these are venues not to be missed.
No to Wind farm
Residents of Gwern Berthi Road have added their opposition to a Wind farm proposed in the area.
At a meeting of Gwern Berthi Road Residents Association it was unanimously agreed to register objections. It was felt proposals to include Gwern Berthi Road in the planned access route was infeasible due to its 1912 construction for lighter traffic. It is believed there will be 168 abnormal load movements, comprising of lorries 34 metres in length, with an average gross weight of 53 tonnes. There are currently 70 dwelling 50 of which have their ground floors below road level. And it was felt that with the traffic and new development on unstable land there would be a very real danger of landslips occurring.
Council objects to impact of wind farm
Plans for a wind farm on the mountainside above Cwmcelyn, Blaina are being opposed by local councillors.
Nantyglo and Blaina town council has formally objected to plans submitted by Pennant Wind Energy Ventures for 24 wind turbines.
Although the council will not determine the application, it can make recommendations to the planning authority, Blaenau Gwent Borough Council.
Its objection has been made on the grounds of the visual impact of such a development on the communities of Nantyglo and Blaina, concerns about ground stability due to old mine workings and perceived loss of public rights of way. Plans for the wind farm at Mynydd James and Coity Mountain will be considered by the borough council in the coming months next
Note from Webmaster No mention of the objection made from Cwmtillery, yet I was under the impression an objection had been sent in.
Could someone tell if Cwmtillery has objected??
Work is and has been carried out on the Red Ash Level for the past 2 months now? For those not sure, the Red Ash Level overlooks the Lower Lake and is at the top of what the locals call the concrete road. If the wind farm goes ahead, the lorries carrying the wind farm equipment could use this road if extended to access the mountaintops.
Anyway, curiosity kills the cat as they say, so I walked up past the level the other day and had a chat. I could see a lot of material and equipment, considering grapevine talk indicated the level was leaking water again? In fact enough equipment and materials to ensure the level would never leak nor collapse ever again. As a matter of fact I believe you could drive a 56-ton lorry over it with out doing any damage!!!!
I was then pondering the questions, how will the lorries get up Gwern Berthi road, you can only just get the service bus up there now. What effect will this heavy traffic have on these 100-year-old houses, would there be any structural damage due to the constant rumbling of heavy traffic? How would the lorries get on to the concrete road from West Bank? The only option I can see is bulldozing through the small wooded area on the bend at the slip. What a pity, must remember to tell all that wildlife that live there. So what about at the top of the concrete road, are they going to bulldoze a road up the side of the mountain? Still, we will have a good view from the Lakeside, Wetlands and Reservoir areas. I'm sure all these ifs and buts have been discussed??
Anonymous
Note from Webmaster.. I don't normally display anonymous letters but this one seem to have a lot of unanswered questions. I'm not sure what work is being carried out at the level, but it has been going on for a long period?
Urgent work last week, took me to Cornwall and I found myself working in the vicinity of a small wind farm. It was not long before I went walking in the direction of the wind farm as I have never been close to one of these turbines. I was very surprised how close I could have walked to one of these operating turbines. How close, well this turbine was rotating, and I could have walked up and touched the centre upright support. No fenced off area, no locked gate, there was nothing stopping me walking to the middle of the wind farm. I heard very little mechanical noise, In fact I was pleasantly surprised and the area around the whole farm was landscaped back to what looked like its original condition. What I found a concern was the constant swish as the blades cut through the air. After only a few minutes it took away any excitement of being in the presence of these huge towers. Throughout the week ahead I also experienced this "Sun Flicker" which is caused when the turbine blades are rotating and the sun is directly behind turbine, as you are looking at it, its similar to a flashing light which you cannot switch off. This wind farm had one turbine operating, I shudder to think what the blade noise and sun flicker for our proposal 24 turbines will make, not to mention the impact on the environment and wildlife. Anyone living in this valley knows how sound travels, the acoustics are brilliant throughout and will only amplify any additional noise generated.
The question asked in the poll, "Do you want a 20 to 30 Windfarm here"?
I thank the 100 people that took the time to vote.....
12% voted "Yes"
82% voted "No"
6% Voted "Not Sure
A report in the local Gazette, which mention 56 ton lorries would be needed to fetch the wind farm equipment into the valley. via Gwern Berthi Road. This report resulted in a meeting held in the new Scout hut this week, to discuss this issue.
A few things I would like to say about this meeting...
(1) I have read information on the local websites regarding the windfarm since August, it has been in the local newspapers since August...Is it not a bit late now to arrange meetings?
(2) As far as the lorries travelling Gwern Berthi Road, well how do you think this equipment would get to it destination, teleport?
(3) and finally, if you want support at this/these meeting, why not arrange them at a more realistic time, not 5.30, some people work you know?
The question asked in the poll, "Do you want a 20 to 30 Wind farm here"?
I thank the 84 people that took the time to vote.....
74% voted "Yes"
25% voted "No"
1% Voted "Not Sure
Looks like the Application is in.
C/2003/0494 Applications for Planning Permission for 2003 Construction of wind farm comprising 24 turbines. Pendragon Windfarm Proposal Mynydd James Abertillery.
See details at Blaenau Gwent.gov.uk link above
http://www.blaenau-gwent.gov.uk/The%20Council/Departments/Environment_Development/Planning%20
Control/Planning%20Apps%202003/All%20Planning%20Apps%202003.asp
If you want to say No to the Windfarm send all your emails to steve.smith@blaenau-gwent.gov.uk or write to
Steve Smith Environment and DevelopmentMunicipal Offices Civic Centre Ebbw Vale NP23 6XB
Gwent Gazette 27th October
2003Since public debate, involving our Councillors, on the soon-to-be-proposed wind-farm has effectively been muzzled by planning laws, and also, talking to local people, I am aware that many consider this wind-farm to be of little consequence, I would ask people to consider these points from my own research:- Noise the turbines can be noisy, not in terms of outright decibels but a constant drone.
Shadow Flicker the setting or rising sun on a direct line of sight from you past a turbine, can produce shadow flicker.
Property Devaluation does a wind-farm cause property devaluation? Unsurprisingly developers say no, those in wind-farm areas say yes. Environmental Damage Each turbine requires a hole big enough to take three double-decker buses. Filled with concrete and steel it will damage underground and surface water courses, cause drying out and “lagooning “ of moor land surfaces, destroy habitats and blanket bogs.
Getting machinery to Cefn Coch, Mynydd James and Coity will cause environmental damage as will the operation of the turbines.
The turbines can kill birds, especially raptors, and bats.
Heritage Putting these 21st century follies above a World Heritage Site and National Mining Museum would be spitting on our own heritage. Landscape the turbines will be visible from elevated areas of the Brecon Beacons National Park. I estimate from West Side Blaina the five turbines on the Mynydd James will appear to be four times a full moon diameter but only to the hub, the rotor will add another 40 to 50 metres or up to two more full moon diameters. My heart goes out to Cwmtillery, whose northern vista will be a whirling windscape. Public Safety During the 20 years’ operation of the wind-farm, the turbines will experience many storms or worse e.g. Oct ‘87. Turbines have fallen over, turbine blades, weighing a tonne have become detached, blade tips have come away at 200 mph! That they could be built over our mountain walks is bad enough, but what of the houses close to the mountains?
I appeal to our Councillors to reject the wind-farm and keep the peaceful tourist potential of our beautiful valley.
I've also seen another site www.nowinhashwindfarm.co.uk another community with its back to the wall like we will be soon.
Email reply from BG Planning office 22nd October 2003
I sent a email to the B/Gwent Planning officer, asking for the planning details for the Anemometer mast coity mountain.
Email sent:- I am the webmaster for cwmtillery.com and have had several emails of concern regarding the erected anemometer mast on the "Coity Mountain". The email go on to ask "Where is the planning application for this"? I have managed to find the application for the mast on the Mynydd James, East Of Blaina and have placed the details on the site hoping to answer some of the questions I have been sent, but I find non for the coity?. Now the issue has been raised I am also interested. I have attached the two photo's I was referred to.. If you could assist me in this matter, I sure it would lay to rest one of the many issues revolving the Proposed wind farm
I received this email and attachment on the 22nd October 2003, which show planning application for "Temporary erection of Anemometry Mast at Twyn Du, Moorland between Blaenavon and Abertillery".
Approved 13/03/03
Email sent into me 9th October 2003
I have just finished reading the article below and felt I must remind everyone of a few years ago.
Look what happened in the Cwmtillery valley not all that long ago, yes I mean our unsightly telephone mast, and for those of you who can't recall. It grew just like the beans in "Jack in the Beanstalk", one day nothing, the next. Well the work was carried out so quick, no one have time to think?
When the local people approached the Council, yes a notice had been posted in the area explaining the proposal, but where was this notice? Placed in an area where no one would see it, you would need Sherlock Holmes and tracker dogs to find it.
This is what will happen with the wind farm, all quite, peaceful, birds singing, the graceful fox playing and the rabbit eating the grass and our graceful mountain tops starting another day regenerating itself after years of industry abuse.
***Bang, Crash... and the next you will know bits of machinery, huge towering masts will start to appear filling the area, destroying all that nature has worked so hard to create.
It will be no good shouting to the Blaenau Gwent Council then, "Sorry its to late will be the reply" I think. Now is the time to voice your opinion, before its to late.
We will be handing this valley over to our children one day, in what state will it be?
Gwent Gazette 9th October 2003
WHO GAVE PERMISSION
I write further to my letter (September 18th)and in response to the letter of Steve Smith, head of planning control, Blaenau Gwent Council (September 25th).If, as Mr Smith states, a planning application has not been received by the council for the proposed wind farm above Blaina, who gave planning consent for the anemometer to be erected on the proposed site for the wind farm in order to gain information of the wind velocity in this area?
This anemometer is a pole sunk into the top of the mountain and is about 80 to 90 feet high. The pole itself does not take up much space, but the four anchor stations, which are used to secure the pole, takes up an area nearly the size of a football pitch.
If it takes up this amount of area and space in order to hold and secure this pole in place, it does not take much imagination or genius to work out the size and area needed in order to secure and anchor just one of the proposed windmills that will be about 280 feet high.
There is also the depth into the mountain in which it will have to be sunk, in order to anchor and secure it.
So Mr Smith, how much of an area and size will 200 to 300 of these massive structures take up, noting the very destructive impact they will have over a vast beautiful area of the proposed location site.
I have seen up close the anemometer already erected on the proposed site, so once again I ask who gave the consent for the erection of it, and why, if an application has not been submitted by Pennant Wind Farm Ventures?
Or have they just erected it to gain information of the wind velocity in the proposed area. Surely, they must have needed planning consent and permission before they erected the anemometer on site?
It all sounds a bit windy to me, Mr Smith
*************************************************
I checked on this myself (Webmaster@cwmtillery.com) and found the following
On the 21/03/2003 Planning ref number C/2003/0032 Pennant Wind Limited, Swan House, Bonds Mill, Stonehouse, Gloucestershire GL10 3RF
Dale Hart, Castle Comfort, Trellech, Monmouthshire NP25 4PT
Full Application Erection of a 30m tall wind measuring mast for a period of 12 months. Site At Mynydd James, East Of Blaina
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As Windfarms are a global issue, I am adding this article from the Herald Sun in Melbourne which has been sent in to me. Hope you find it interesting reading.... September 2003
**********HOW ugly, how utterly loathsome, are the wind farms being built on our coast. They're ugly and loathsome, not just because they're grunting monstrosities 40 storeys high. Nor are they ugly and loathsome just because they're squatting and waving in precisely the loveliest bits of Victoria - the Great Ocean Road, Wilson's Prom and the Grampians. They are also ugly and loathsome because they symbolise modern idiocy - our frantic desire to prove our goodness to Mother Earth by wasting heaps of money to "fix" a problem that doesn't actually exist, and wouldn't be fixed by this even if it did. Professor Christopher Essex, a Canadian mathematician and co-author of Taken by Storm:
The Troubled Science, Policy and Politics of Global Warming, well understands why we want so badly to believe in the greenhouse warming religion he heartily condemns. "People . . . just want to believe they are doing something virtuous and truthful for the world," he said. But "I think we will look back at these things (like wind farms) and laugh". Or cry, when we see what they're doing to our coast. We already have 61 of these things, and about 1000 more planned for Victoria in the next three years. To erect them, we've paid manufacturers and bureaucrats millions in subsidies and grants, and you will be forced to pay many millions more in higher power bills, thanks to crazy federal laws insisting we use more of this vastly more expensive "green" power. The Institute of Public Affairs estimates Australia's wind farms by 2010 will cost consumers at least an extra $420 million a year. Not a surprise, given wind farms work only when it's blowing, and need backup. That's why Denmark, home of wind power, has electricity that costs three times ours. As in: get your last power bill, and triple it for that green feeling. And forget the Bracks Government's promise that these things will bring us many jobs.
Take the wind farm planned for Portland, which we were told would create more than 2000 jobs. Now we know it will struggle to provide just 50. Never mind, because, as Premier Steve Bracks says, the real reason for the wind farms is they'll help us to save the planet. To which I say, "Oh, really?" LET'S assume you actually believe in man-made global warming - and in every holy word of the United Nation's Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change. As that green goose, you therefore believe temperatures will rise by 2.5C over 100 years, just as the IPCC says. Oh, Armageddon! There will be floods, droughts - all kinds of hell. Ice caps will melt and islands will drown. That's what the "experts" say, anyway. And if you believe them, you'll know only the Kyoto Accord can save us - that deal under which rich nations must cut the carbon dioxide belching from their power stations, their cars and even their windy cows, no matter what the cost in jobs or cash. No matter what the cost to our coast, either, because our wind farms are meant to be our little bit to stop the planet from heating up. But here's the fact which exposes those wind farms as frauds: If the whole world did everything demanded by the Kyoto Accord - everything, no buts - guess how much of the 2.5C of warming we'd prevent.
I'll tell you. According to a leading IPCC researcher and confirmed by other scientists, the Kyoto Accord will avert just 0.14C of that warming by 2100. Yes, just 0.14C in 100 years. And what micro-fraction of that micro-skerrick would be thanks to our wind farms? Why must we pay so high and destroy so much to achieve so little? But even that's not all that damns our wind farms. There's no evidence, for a start, that higher temperatures would be so bad. Global surface temperatures are now 0.6C higher than a century ago, and I can't see what harm it's caused. Instead, we're living longer and growing more crops than ever. Better still, pumping out more carbon dioxide could green the planet, since that's the gas plants live on. Second, despite what you read, many scientists doubt man has much to do with any global warming at all. The world 1000 years ago was warmer than it is today, before plunging into a mini ice age from which we're only now recovering, which shows there are great natural forces which make the planet hotter or colder. DR Sallie Baliunas, of the Harvard-Smithsonian Centre for Astroyphysics, says the latest warming of the globe -- like periods of warming over centuries -- actually coincide with the sun being more active. She concludes: "Recent trends on surface warming may not be primarily attributable to human action at all." The Geological Society of America in July published a paper by two top Canadian scientists, Professor Jan Veizer and Professor Nir Shajiv, who agree that the sun, not man, causes most of our global warming. And they've found that changes in the sun's output affect the Earth particularly when our galaxy passes through the arms of the Milky Way. Mind you, more people should have twigged earlier there was something wrong with the theory that we were gassing ourselves to death. Facts weren't fitting the theory.
Why, for instance, had the Earth warmed in the first half of last century, before we put all that carbon dioxide in the air? Why did temperatures from the 1940s to the 1970s then fall, not rise? Why is the Antarctic colder, not warmer? And although surface temperatures have risen, why hasn't the temperature of the air above done the same, when the greenhouse theory says that's the first place we'd see warming? That theory is now collapsing so fast that a prominent environmental scientist, Professor Patrick Michaels, speaks for many when he says the "climate change issue is an overblown bunch of hooey". In fact, it's religious hooey, and so silly it's funny. Or it would be, if ghastly wind farms weren't now wrecking our beautiful coast, chop-chopping our cash with their flailing arms.**********
Gwent Gazette 4th September 2003
Leaflets asking residents how a £4m green dividend promised by a wind energy company to local communities should be spent were distributed this week.
They want local people to decide how it should be spent, and are canvassing them for ideas. The leaflets contain a pre-paid reply card and also information about the company's proposal.
"We want to keep local people fully informed ahead of our planning application in the coming months" said managing director, Dale Hart. The potential £4m of community funds could be doubled if suitable projects that would qualify for maych funding are identified.
The views of the local communities are important to us and we welcome ideas on how the money many best be spent. The 25m Pendragon Wind Farm would be sited on the mountains between Blaina and Blaenavon and could produce enough clean energy for the equivalent of nearly all the homes in Blaenau Gwent.
Detailed proposals are being prepared and the planning application is expected to be made later this year.
Mr Hart said "The proposed wind farm would help the Welsh Assembly Government to meet its commitment to renewable energy production. It would also help the environment by producing energy cleanly and reducing the amout of greenhouse gases produced to meet our energy needs.
We want to be a good neighbour and will be keeping local people fully informed of the progress of our proposal and take on board their views on the best way forward".
Gwent Gazette 21st August
2003Three letters in this copy on the Gwent Gazette, all along the same theme, so I decided to include the one written by Mike Grail Cymru Annibynnol (Independent Wales Party).
I,m am writing to you with regard to the proposed wind farm development by Pennant Wind Ventures Ltd upon the Coity and James Mountains.
Firstly, let me clarify that Cymru Annibynnol is not anti-wind technology, we welcome initatives that can lead us away from fossil and nuclear generated electricity.
However, we cannot and do not accept any development imposed upon the community for the benefit of outside bodies.
Secondly, we believe any development must take into consideration the visual and long term environmental impact.
Thirdly, great consideration must be given to the adverse effect this development might have on other indigenous industry, such as tourism of farming. We accept the argument that wind farms can be a potential tourist attraction, but this is only true to say during the first developments of this kind. Asthese turbines become commonplace, their intrest value drops significantly and therefore, any loss in this sector will in the longer term be vitable.
Campaign
This subject was discussed by our national council and followed by consultation with our friends at the campaign for the Protection of Rural Wales. We have concluded that ourposition regarding this development is negative. However, we are a democratic party and, therefore, suggest the only circumstance that this type of development is given planning approval, is only after the population of the affected community is allowed active participation in the decision making process.
We have
conducted a survey in Cwm Ebbw Fach and it is very clear that the residents
wish to be involved in the decision making process. We have collected more than
2,000 signatures on a petition calling for a public referendum.Biggest
We are aware of the standard planning procedures, but we feel this development is hardly standard, as these proposed turbines are the biggest to be built antwhere in Cymru. If given the green light, this development would have an immense impact upon the community far into the future, with the possibly irreversible effect for the environment now and for generations to come
For the record we are appalled at the report in the Gwent Gazette, and the pledge by the developer to donate money to local projects for the next 20 years. Should a referendum be approved we will co-operate fully in a positive manner. We will attempt to promote awareness of this technology and the potential shortfall it might bring.
We believe the people should have the final say, and we would stand by their decision whatever the outcome. We have sent a similar letter to Steve Smith, head of planning control, and Denis Canney, principal planning officer for Blaenau Gwent.
The other two letters contain qoutes like.
*** The offer from pennant is in my opinion little short of a bribe.***
***Surely it is not right for a company to offer incentives/rewards to the council, albeit on behalf of the community and advertise the upcoming planning application in the local newspaper.***
***Surely the public should be the judge on this one.***
***Public opinion is what counts, put pen to paper and make your voice heard.***
and finally
***The £4m it would generate for the valley over 20 years is a joke. In fact it's a drop in the ocean, which is indeed where these ugly, noisy, droning vanes should be placed, rather than on our lovely mountainside***
August 2003
Wind Farm on Mynydd James, Cefn Coch, and Coity mountains
Pennant Wind Energy
Ventures Ltd is hoping to site between 20 and 30, 100metre high wind turbines
on prosed sites at Mynydd James, Cefn Coch, and Coity mountains, which will
provide electricity for 25,000 homes.If successful it plans to hand over a green dividend to fund community projects in Brynmawr, Blaina, Abertillery, Cwmtillery, Llanhilleth, Six Bells and Nantyglo areas. The welsh company pledged between £150,000 and £20,000 a year for the next 20 years if their application is successful Pennant will now distribute leaflets to all households in Brynmawr, Blaina, Nantyglo, Cwmtillery, Abertillery, Six Bells and Llanhilleth, asking people for their views on how the green dividend may best be used.
Pennant admits some of the turbines would be visible. And some residents' groups fear the giant turbines will be an eyesore and spoil the famous Cordell Country Trail. Alun Lewis, secretary of the Cwmcelyn Tenants' and Residents' Association, Blaina, said: "I would say the tenants and residents would be opposed to the idea. It would spoil a lovely part of the world." Blaenau Gwent council last week agreed a request for a wind-measuring device to be placed on the mountain for a year - but yesterday would not comment on Pennant's proposal. The proposal should go before the council's planning committee in the next few months.
Facts...24 Grey coloured wind turbine are
proposed.....Each Turbine will generate 1.3 megawatts of electricity....The
generator is driven by a three blade rotor with a 31m radius....Each turbine
will consist of a 62m tubular steel tower.....The height of each turbine will
be approx 93m (11 feet shorter than Big Ben).....Each concrete base will cover
400 Sq M......onstruction of this windfarm would take 52 weeks.....Some public
right of ways, will be closed during the construct......Cables will be laid
underground......Pennant Wind Energy Ventures Ltd is a subsidiary of the
Walters Group..... S.C.A.M. is the Save Coity And Mynydd James
group...
