Update and Urgent Call for Support: Mynydd Maen Action Group

At the time of writing, we are halfway through the third statutory consultation this year for renewable energy developments on our mountain, Mynydd Maen. This latest development consists of 13 turbines, 150m tall. It will share infrastructure, roads, quarries and substations, with the other developments proposed for our mountain. It is blindingly obvious that this will be a single huge, interlinked development and should be considered as such.

The Mynydd Maen Action Group volunteer team and our local communities are all suffering from fatigue, as two statutory consultations took place earlier this year for the same square mile or so of mountain. Confusion reigns, as many local people think they have already objected. As an Action Group, we are busy holding meetings and posting on social media, letting local people know this is yet another new proposal and their objections are needed again.

You can help!

1. Objections: If this article is released before 19^th May 2025, please would you be kind enough to lodge an objection on our behalf? Details and more information are on our website (link below). To help, our very clever programmer friend has devised a programme to lead people through the objection process ensuring objections are personalised and different from each other. If PEDW and the Inspector receive identical objections, they are likely to bundle them together and count them as a single objection, as they do with petitions. We are trying to get every voice heard, regardless of peoples’ level of education or familiarity with the planning process. Every voice matters.
2. Money: We are collecting money to pay our consultant, who will be advising and representing us through the consultations and hearings. The speed and intensity at which these multiple applications have hit us has been relentless. As a small group of volunteers, most of whom work full time, it has been almost impossible to keep on top of the tens of thousands of pages of technical reports, and we simply couldn’t do this without support. A DONATE button is also on our website, and we’d be so grateful for anything you could contribute.

The first two applications, Cil-lonydd solar farm and Trecelyn wind farm are now paused, awaiting further information and hearings. A fourth development, Rhyswg wind farm (4 x 180m turbines) will also interlink with the above proposals. We are still awaiting that to be submitted to PEDW, as it is currently in the research stage.  We will keep you updated as we have further information. Many thanks for reading, and for any support, financial or objections that you’re able to contribute.

https://www.mynydd-maen.co.uk/

Figure 1: Map of renewable energy developments planned for the Mynydd Maen area

Figure 2: Scale model of 150m turbine next to a model of one of the pylons currently on the mountain (and a surprised bluetit who almost crashed into our model!)