January 2025
Message from Annie Zakiewicz, Ceredigion Branch Chair:
Happy New Year Everyone!
I tempted fate in the December newsletter by writing, “By the time you read this, we will have had our December meeting.” Unfortunately, Storm Darragh forced us to cancel due to widespread travel disruptions and a power outage at the village hall. Ceredigion was severely impacted by the storm, with many trees uprooted and significant damage to buildings, power lines and communication cables, leading to widespread power outages. Lampeter Trees and National Grid did an excellent job despite terrible conditions. Openreach has been overwhelmed and is still locating faults. Some residents were without power for a week, and many lost phone and internet access, with some still not connected by the new year. It was very sad to see so many mature trees destroyed.
There has been no further progress on the wind and pylon projects in the Lampeter area, but our thanks to The Cambrian Mountain Society for alerting us to movement on the planned development for the slopes of Pumlumon. Lluest Y Gwynt Wind Farm is close to the village of Ponterwyd, east of Aberystwyth. Announced in 2020, it has just entered its statutory consultation phase, which will conclude on 12th February 2025. This consultation period is the final step before the submission of the planning application to the Planning and Environment Decisions Wales (PEDW).
- A non-technical summary of the proposals can be accessed here
- A photo montage of the visual impact from Pumlumon Fawr is here
Two face-to-face public consultations are scheduled at:
- Syr John Rhys School, Ponterwyd, SY23 3JX
Wednesday, 29th January 2025, 4pm to 8pm
- Llangurig Community Centre, Llangurig, SY18 6SG
Thursday, 30th January 2025, 10am to 2pm
This promotional video from Visit Wales showcases a walk to the trig point on Pumlumon Fawr using the Caradoc Jones trail. It graphically highlights the impact that the proposed wind farm would have on Pumlumon and the Cambrian Mountains. The existing turbines, briefly shown in the video, are located at the Cefn Croes wind farm and are under 100 metres tall. Lluest Y Gwynt wind farm proposal is for 12 turbines that will each stand 180 metres tall.
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