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Print articleCarmarthenshire County Council's planning committee voted 15-4 in favour of the application by Cambrian Renewable Energy Ltd, with one abstention.
The decision followed a two-and-a-half-hour long meeting in the Council Chamber at County Hall, Carmarthen, when members heard from the developer and from opponents of the scheme.
The scheme is for the erection of 16 wind turbine generators, an anemometer mast, electrical substation and control building, electrical connections, access roads, temporary construction compound and borrow pits.
The site of the proposed development is the common land known as Mynydd y Betws, a steep-sided plateau adjoining Mynydd-y-Gwair Common in the City and County of Swansea.
The 16 turbines are to be sited across Mynydd y Betws in a broadly double, east-west row, over a distance of four kilometres. Turbines are proposed to be mostly between 270 and 320 metres above sea level.
The committee heard that while the scheme conflicted with some of the council's planning policies ? on landscape and the environment, and amenity and open space ? the council's policy on renewable energy and Welsh Assembly targets on climate change and renewable energy had to be considered.
After the meeting, Eifion Bowen, Head of planning, said:
?The application was considered carefully by the planning committee who visited the site and heard directly from objectors to the scheme.
?Whilst recognising its significant impact on the landscape, the committee recognised its obligation to meet Welsh Assembly targets for renewable energy generation and the reduction in carbon emissions.?
Before the meeting Swansea Council warned that the Environmental Statement supporting the application ?fails to adequately assess the cumulative visual, landscape, noise and human impacts.?
Bowen added:
?The consent is subject to a number of conditions to mitigate some of the effects of the scheme.?
