Source: BBC Radio 4: Today Programme
URL: N/A
Date: 20/06/2011
Event: Roger Harrabin on the effects of wind farm development in Wales
People:
Roger Harrabin: I'm standing on top of the world, or at least it looks that way from up here on the Cambrian Mountains near Carno in Mid Wales, and the top of the world is dominated by wind turbines, like the one that's slicing the air above my head. Some hate them, some love them.
Sandy Humphreys: It's just beautiful up here. They're so mesmerising. You can just stand and watch them, all day long.
Roger Harrabin: That's Sandy Humphreys. She's up here walking her dog. But how do her neighbours feel about the wind farm?
Sandy Humphreys: I don't think they mind the wind farm so much, I think most people have forgotten it's here. It's -
Roger Harrabin: It's out of the way -
Sandy Humphreys: It's out of the way, yes really out of the way.
Roger Harrabin: That's typically how it's been for wind farms in Mid Wales, a sort of benign indifference from many people, lubricated by wind farm cash for communities. Until now, that is. Because the Welsh Assembly's planning a massive expansion that will overwhelm the capacity of the local electricity grid. And that'll mean a 20-acre substation, somewhere up here, and giant pylons marching right across the landscape.
[Birdsong, tranquil noises.]
Little girl: There's a caterpillar - [inaudible] green thing there.
Mother: Oh yeah - nearly squashed it...
Roger Harrabin: Welcome to Dolgead Holiday Park near Llanfair Caereinion. Under one scenario, the ridge in this picturesque valley would be dominated by a line of those pylons. Philip and Anna Pryce, who run this place, are very worried how their visitors will respond.
Philip Pryce: The reason they come to Montgomeryshire is the beautiful landscape, the beautiful countryside. So I just feel so sorry for them if it happens here.
Anna Pryce: My big concern is the effect it's ultimately going to have on our livelihood and our ability to pay our bills and be a viable business. If we don't have tourists in this area, then we don't have a business and we go bust.
Roger Harrabin: The Welsh Assembly say that to minimise the overall impact of wind power, it's neater to have a few mega wind farms in remote places like this than lots of small wind farms. But in this placid region, passions are now agitated to a rare degree. [Industrial noises.] Some locals are particularly upset because they say this area of Mid Wales is pristine. But that's not quite true. I'm up on the hills above Carno, surveying a gargantuan industrial operation to extract stone from the hillside, a giant quarry, stretching as far as the eye can see. There are lorries passing, kicking up dust. And this is one area where the National Grid are proposing to put their electric substation. There's simply no-one up here to object. Only sheep. [Cafe noises.] But here's something that might worry the politicians. This is the Great Oak Cafe in Llanidloes. It's a mecca for the large proportion of environmentalists who live round here. And even many of them are turning against the grid connections that accompany any expansion of wind farms.
Andy Warren: My name's Andy Warren. I'm a lifelong environmentalist. I support the need for renewable energy systems. I agree with the protest groups that the visual impact of grid connections is not desirable. This needs to be looked at, seriously, so that we don't end up with opposition between governments and environmentalists, who recognise that we need renewable energy systems and the general public, who often don't really seem to want to take that on board.
Roger Harrabin: The government wants to generate more and more power from onshore turbines to reduce the need for expensive offshore installations. Ministers in Cardiff and London will be alarmed at this level of protest from an area that's been so positive about wind power in the past.