Renewable Energy
Onshore wind - Current CPRW policy

Policy on Onshore Wind Installations (2005)

CPRW welcomes the Government's commitment to reduce the impacts of climate change and harmful emissions by encouraging the production of renewable energy. It recognises that the UK Government's and Welsh Assembly’s target to increase the output of all forms of renewable electricity to 10% by 2010, with a further general aim of doubling that level by 2020, will help in this respect. CPRW however believes that achieving these targets alone will not solve the problem unless other measures to manage energy demand and consumption habits are introduced.

CPRW is however concerned that the current system of subsidies which encourage the development of on shore wind energy schemes has produced a distorted and divisive conflict between the two aims of reducing harmful emissions and protecting the high quality rural landscape of Wales. On shore wind energy has become and is still being promoted politically, as the only economically reliable renewable energy technology. This has led to concentration of damaging schemes in the unspoilt uplands of Wales where the wind resource, is in the eyes of the developers, most reliable and hence economic.
CPRW believes that the adverse visual impacts of most existing and projected schemes far outweigh the intermittent energy generated by them. The energy benefits associated with them do not justify the damage they have inflicted on the Welsh landscape.

CPRW recognises however that Local Planning Authorities must have regard to the government's UK target whilst at the same time protecting the character of rural Wales. What is alarming in many areas, is that the planning system has failed to prevent large groups of conspicuous skyline turbines spoiling important landscapes.
CPRW regards the proposals to expand still further the numbers of upland wind installations and further more to concentrate them in specific upland areas of Wales ( See response to TAN 8 document) to be unacceptable. It will continue to campaign in order to prevent the uplands of Wales being traded off and used as the location for industrial scale wind power stations.

CPRW will challenge unacceptable on shore wind development proposals and pressures to relax planning controls which will result in the integrity, diversity of the welsh landscapes being compromised. CPRW believes that concentration of wind power installations on sites of landscape importance represents an unjustified imbalance between energy and countryside policies. This is made even more unacceptable given that the production of energy other renewable technologies and an increased emphasis nationally on energy conservation measures will deliver the Government’s proposed targets comfortably.

When assessing the acceptability of any proposed on shore wind scheme:

CPRW will oppose any onshore wind power proposal which has a significant adverse impact on the landscape of rural Wales having particular regard to:

1. The existing landscape character of the site and its wider landscape setting and the impact of the proposed development upon the landscape character of those areas;
2. The existing views, into and out of, the site and the wider landscape and the impact on those views of the proposed development;
3. The effect upon the public, whether resident or visiting, arising from the development.
Matters which will be taken into account when evaluating landscape character, views, effects on the public and significance of impact, will include:

In making this judgement the benefits of the scheme in terms of the amount of energy it generates will be assessed against the degree of its impact on the site and its surroundings.

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