What Can I Do to Help Stop the Wind Farms?

Please read our main campaign page HERE

Click HERE for the Factsheet flyers to download and print.

This really is a mammoth-sized campaign, as there is so much wrong with the way all these wind farm proposals are being executed. It can feel quite overwhelming when we wonder how to even begin to fight this bombardment of planning applications that will ultimately lead to the desolation of Wales.

Where do we begin? Do we tackle how it is being facilitated, the large scale projects themselves, the politics, the health risks, the non-common sense environmental impacts, the fallacies, the corruption….?

But, there is hope as there are many people taking positive actions towards saving our country, and there have also been some small wins! Such as the turbine that was rejected recently in Pembrokeshire due to its impact on the landscape (read HERE).

United We Stand, Divided We Fall

At the moment, there are many smaller campaigns and groups against this both locally and nationwide. But, we are scattered all over the country. We felt the first step was to try to unite us all. We consider the bombardment of the planning applications are (maybe purposefully) creating divide, as we all are focused on our own local areas – and you know how the saying goes – ‘divided we fall’.

With all these applications being DNS (Developments of National Seignificance), the planning is bypassing the local councils with the decision going straight to the Senedd. This means they are united in this and, in contrast, we are divided. Therefore, we see the answer is to come together as much as possible!

Connection and Community

What we are seeing is a deliberate move by the eco agenda and developers to drive us out of community groups, which makes face to face, or groups we control, so much more important. There is also a deliberate move to capture our youth through school programmes and community funding of youth groups and sports clubs! So we have a task to de-programme our youth from this propaganda, as they are our future, and to actively facilitate the gathering of like-minded folk in face-to-face communities (even if this is online). Bringing people together and uniting ourselves can be very powerful. Many feel this is the reason for destroying our local pubs, often the heart of close knit communities. These are where people would once gather and put the world to rights!

With this in mind, we initiated and hosted a Zoom gathering on 21st Feb 2024, which was attended by 7 of the areas that had planning applications, as well as the Campaign for the Protection of Rural Wales and Motvind UK. We had a brainstorming session and everyone put their views across and told us what was happening in their area. It seemed that we all agreed that we need to come together in a more unified front, and several great ideas were mentioned. It also seemed apparent to us that there are several levels where action needs to be taken, and while some were focused on the legislation, some focused on the politics and some on public awareness and building a more grassroots level movement.

We feel all these are just as important as each other and can run simultaneously alongside each other. We do need to tackle this on all levels, as they are!

So to break it down, we see there are 3 main areas of action required at present:

1. Public Awareness
2. Stopping/delaying Planning Applications
   
3. Changing the planning process/legislation

We will look at these in a moment.

Actions Taken So Far

First we will look at some of the actions that have been and are being taken so far. These are by no means the only actions that have been taken, just what was discussed at the meeting.

In Neath Port Talbot, there is an active group who have been focused on public awareness. They have a great flyer, have instigated several articles and interviews in the media and have a Facebook group of over 1000 members (click HERE). Rhodri suggested a large gathering and awareness march to the Senedd, and he felt the best way to reach people was to explain how they would be losing their countryside and national parks, places that were their solace during the lockdowns. Where would they go if there were future lockdowns?

Caerphilly also have a dedicated Facebook group (click HERE) with nearly 350 members. Kim has been actively fighting the planning by attending and speaking at the consultations for both the turbines and the synchronous condenser planned very close to her home. Kim has accompanied Danielle  in Caerphilly town collecting signatures for the CPRW Senedd petition (now expired) several times and put posters up around the town. Jane, a resident in Senghenydd spoke of her concerns about the turbines, which will surround her home.

Tim of Motvind UK in North Wales told us of a judicial review he was planning, and is currently mapping every single turbine to scale in 3D on a fly-over map of Wales. This will be invaluable to show the impact these turbines will have. His view was that the impact on health due to the sound, contamination of water supplies, infrasound and microplastics would be impactful for approaching people with. He informed us that a peer reviewed study was just about to be released on the effects of infrasound. The focus on the impact to health was echoed by several citizens, one of whom has had success in having a smart meter removed on health grounds.

Jonathan, trustee of Campaign for the Protection of Rural Wales (CPRW) was present and it was the CPRW whose petition we supported. It finished just short of the 10,000 target before Christmas. It was agreed that petitions probably wouldn’t make any difference as far as the Senedd is concerned, but that the petition provided an excellent focus and reason for getting out and spreading the word, though it should be made clear to people that they need to do more than just sign! Jonathan said he has always been a lot more focused on saving our countryside from pylons, but the imminent threat of wind turbines has now caught his attention. He stated that all of Wales’ needs for energy, now and in the projected future, can be supplied by off-shore turbines alone, and there is therefore no need for any on-shore turbines at all. CPRW has just completed an updated map of all the DNS planning proposals and their statuses, available HERE

Clive from Conwy gave very detailed and knowledgeable information on the procedures, legislation and pointed out some of the challenges that campaigning faced. He also gave valuable information on how he thought certain actions may not be effective. He has been involved in campaigning and research into this area for many years and it was helpful that he shared his wisdom with us. His opinion was that the ultimate action was to change the planning process. He stressed the importance of using only solid evidence-based information, particularly when putting the case together for the judicial review. Bute Energy pulled out of their plans for turbines near Clive, as the turbines had to be moved away from pylons due to causing turbulence, so it was not financially viable for Bute to continue. Clive is still keen to help other areas.

Campaign Plans

Let’s now look at the three main areas of focus.

1. Public Awareness

It was very apparent when we went out on the street in Caerphilly to gather signatures for the CPRW petition, that a very high percentage (I would say over 95%) did not even know there was planning proposed for Twyn Hywel – which includes up to 220m tall turbines, some of which would be visible from Caerphilly Castle!

A great majority of the people agreed that they did not want this in their backyards, especially because it was not even a Welsh company that put in the planning application, and especially due to the unprecendented risks in the sheer size of these turbines proposed.

Therefore, we need to share awareness in any way necessary. We are currently updating our printer-friendly factsheet posters so these can be cheaply printed and placed around towns, and for the most part we need to be talking to people to tell them what is happening!

With something such as this that has so much wrong with it, when asked ‘why don’t you like the turbines then?’ We can stumble on where to begin! We advise you find a couple of points that you feel most strongly about and this will help you to give a clear and heartfelt answer. You can then have more info to go to for the other areas of concern, but your first impression will be confident and clear.

Here are some ideas of how we can all help to raise public awareness:

• Join the social media groups, there is at least one for most of the planning areas and others too, some listed in the main article. They are full of great resources to share with friends, family and in other groups, and you can connect with others in your area who feel the same as you
• Speak to people in person (see below for tips on approach and conversation starters!)
  
• Print and hand out flyers in towns, leave flyers in shops and cafes, print A4 posters and put them up around town and on public noticeboards (see the flyers in the main campaign page
  
• Write letters to local and national newspapers
• Book a stall at your local market, and put information and leaflets out on display
• We will be assiting in planning awareness marches in towns around Wales – why not arrange one in your area?

Approaching People

It can be very diffiult to approach people with a massive topic such as this. So we have put together some tips and conversation starters for approaching people with this information, most of which are contributed by Motvind UK.

The imagery on our factsheet flyer was enough to get many people to sign the petition, they just don’t realise the sheer size of these things that will adversely affect their hometown. So we think leafleting or at least having the images available, or carrying some flyers on you to have them handy to show people is very useful. Also there are fly-over video mock-ups currently being produced by Motvind UK, which will show the actual impact these turbines will have on the various areas. When sharing this imagery, when it becomes available, ask people, is this what they want?

Here are some conversation starters:

• Are you aware of all the wind farms planned for around here?
  • Have the map of planning applications handy, or the mock-up fly over video when available. 
• Are you in favour? If a firm YES – maybe move on
  • Though sometimes there is a favourable response when they realise that the proposed turbines are over twice as big as the turbines that are currently used, so maybe try that first! 
• Are you aware they pose a health risk to you and your family?
  • Noise and poor regulation
  • Infrasound – if interested
  • Pollution or loss of Public Water Systems
• Do you work in hospitality?
  • How many tourists will visit if there are turbines on every hill?
  • Loss of tourists in the area, bad for economy
    
• Are you a home owner?
  • LSE study shows -12% house value within 2 km
  • Unsaleable – (like in Ireland villages)?
• Are you enjoying cheaper electricity?
  • Cost of renewables, infrastructure, and back-up required is paid by consumer.
  • Prices have not reduced even in areas with a wind farm
• Do you care about our wonderful Welsh countryside and wildlife?
  • Large scale destruction and felling in construction.
  • Bird and bat mortalities
  • animals flee noise
• Do you agree with how Welsh Government is behaving?
  • Undemocratic planning policies.
    • Eg 20 mph 
    • Eg Farmers
• Any positive responses to the above can be answered: “Would you like to know more?”
  • Find further facts in the fact sheet flyer!

Bute Energy’s PR consultants are not doing correct community engagement ahead of time, and are actually briefed the the Welsh are a ‘backward people’. Let’s prove them wrong! (Source for this is a PR consultant)

2. Judicial Review by Motvind UK

A Judicial Review is a final way of challenging planning decisions made by the Welsh Government. Due to the number of cases received by the Senedd, which was 11,000 in 2011 (which really proves that they do not consider what the people of Wales want in their decisions!), they decided to change the rules for judicial review are already very restricted and decisions can only be challenged on the grounds of “illegality”, “irrationality” and “procedural impropriety”.

The first planning application that appears to be moving forward is Twyn Hywel Energy Park at Caerphilly. As the government appear to be pressing ahead despite concerns and objections at consultations, Motvind UK are preparing to hire barristers to apply for a judicial review should the planning application be approved (estimated around July 2024). For this, they are fundraising to pay for the fees for this, and if planning was rejected, it would be used for the next planning application, and so on.

We have decided that this is a great cause to support, as it will set a precedent for the rest of Wales and give other areas hope that decisions can be overturned when enough people support it. So we are therefore updating our flyers with details of this and a QR code for linking to Motvind UK’s fundraising information, and our community has made a donation to Motvind UK from community funds.

If you would like to contribute to Motvind UK, the details are below: