Wind Farm Traffic through Montgomery
Public Meeting Held on the 23rd July 2008
Representations on Llanbadarn Fynydd Windfarm Proposals. Click Here
Representations on Llandinam Windfarm Repowering Proposals Click Here
If you didn’t manage to get to the public meeting, here is what you need to know:
BACKGROUND
The Welsh Assembly has designated a large area of Powys between Newtown and Llandrindod Wells as a ‘Strategic Search Area’ for windfarm development. This means that development is restricted outside that area, but on the other hand within it there is a presumption that 
windfarm developments will be allowed.
Developments over 50 Megawatt capacity do not have to go through normal planning procedures – instead, consent is granted by the Department for Business, Enterprise, and Regulatory Reform (‘BERR’ – formerly DTI). The first applications for development in the Strategic Search Area are now starting to come through.
Applications are supported by environmental statements which include details of how construction traffic and abnormal loads will reach the proposed site.
The ‘Llanbadarn Fynydd Windfarm’
The application for this proposed windfarm has been submitted by developers Nuon UK. It is for 17 turbines, each of 126.5m height to blade tip. (A mature tree is about 20m high).
The application gives two suggested routes for abnormal loads –carrying the turbine components - after they leave Welshpool.
Route 1 goes from the Welshpool by-pass along the A483 main road through Newtown and Dolfor to the site.
Route 2 leaves the Welshpool by-pass at Sarn y Bryn Caled and follows the A490 to Forden, then B4388 to Montgomery, B4385 to the Blue Bell, then A489 to Kerry, and either over the minor road to Dolfor or through the Treowen estate to join the A483.
Abnormal loads will be large – I estimate the blades will be up to 60m long – and it will take 136 loads (272 trips) to deliver the turbines.
Loads of this size are usually carried on specialist vehicles which spread the weight, and they travel slowly, so actual damage from the vehicles to roads and properties in Montgomery would be unlikely – but disruption to community and economic life as they pass up Princes Street and out along Bishops Castle Street would be substantial.
I believe we must persuade BERR that the ‘Montgomery-Vastre Route’ is not suitable for abnormal loads.
What about other construction traffic?
The application states that it is not necessary to assess the impact of general construction traffic beyond the A483 itself, since it will blend in to general traffic flows with negligible effect.
However, if general construction traffic is left to find its own routes, I fear that many drivers will seek short cuts to avoid Newtown, and the Welshpool-Montgomery-Kerry route may well be chosen. This traffic will consist of heavy lorries carrying stone and concrete and it is precisely this type of traffic which is causing most damage and disruption in Montgomery. The traffic includes 6,868 loads of stone, 330 trips of sand, and 1,910 trips of concrete. Trips would peak at 1,284 per month (more than 50 per day), with around a thousand trips per month for eight consecutive months.
I believe we have to convince BERR at the outset that general construction traffic must be specifically BARRED from travelling through Montgomery.
We must also bear in mind that these figures relate to ONE windfarm application. In the last few weeks, THREE further applications have been made within the same Strategic Search Area. MORE WILL FOLLOW. There is a very real fear that unless we can prevent traffic from the first application passing through Montgomery, the others will follow the same route.
What should we do?
The first application - the ‘Llanbadarn Fynydd Windfarm Application’ - is still at the consultation stage. This means that we can all write and object to the proposal to bring abnormal loads through Montgomery. Say that you are objecting to the proposed ‘Montgomery-Vastre’ route for abnormal loads, and give your reasons. At the same time, please urge specifically that general construction traffic associated with the windfarm is barred from travelling through Montgomery. Whatever you think of windfarms in general, please stick to the traffic issue – general statements of the ‘I am against windfarms’ type will be ignored.
Individual letters count much more than petitions – so please write (email is also OK, but ask for an acknowledgement), and if you don’t like the reply you get, write again! Please also write to our AMs and MP, and corner them whenever you see them to ask what they are doing about this issue.
The address to write is detailed below. I have already put in a formal response to the consultation, and this is available below in Word and PDF format in case you want to use it as a guide.
Stephen Hayes
E: Cllr.stephen.hayes@powys.gov.uk
T: 01686 668545
Click here to download a Letter of Representations guidance in pdf format
Click here to download a Letter of Representations guidance in Word format
To make representations about proposals to route abnormal loads and/or construction traffic through Montgomery, write to:
Secretary of State,
Business, Enterprise & Regulatory Reform,
c/o Bay 2121,
1 Victoria Street,
London SW1H 0ET
Copy to Steve Packer, Powys County Council,
The Gwalia, Ithon Road, Llandrindod Wells LD1 6AA
Or email: gareth.leigh@berr.gsi.gov.uk