Wind farm 'would devastate common'

Some local people are objecting to the plans for Llandegley Rhos Common

One of the UK's oldest conservation groups is fighting plans by a wind farm company to put up seven turbines and carry out work on an adjacent common.

The Open Spaces Society said the proposal by Hendy Wind Farm would "devastate" Llandegley Rhos Common at Penybont in Powys.

The company says its plan would generate enough energy to meet the needs of nearly 10,000 homes per year.

The society called the common the "jewel in the crown" of Radnorshire.

A community group called SOS Radnorshire is also fighting the proposals.

The company has applied for consent to carry out access works on the part of the common and to exchange part of the current common for another area of land in order to facilitate the work.

'Unfair' swap

Kate Ashbrook, general secretary of the society, said the common should be retained for its "beauty, landscape qualities and wildlife habitats and for public enjoyment".

"Instead it could become an industrial site in the heart of this deep countryside," she said.

"People have the right to walk over the whole area, without restriction."

The company has applied to deregister part of the common to enable it to widen the byway to carry abnormal loads.

"It has offered in exchange a paltry piece of land in the forestry plantation to the south. This land is separate from the common and can only be reached from the byway," said Ms Ashbrook.

"It is among ranks of conifers with no views and offering a boring experience compared with the lovely open common it purports to replace.

"The swap is unfair to the public and those with rights of common. We consider it to be unacceptable."

Steven Radford, managing director of Hendy Wind Farm Limited said: "If the Hendy Wind Farm is approved, we are proposing to sensitively widen an existing byway open to all traffic (Boat).

"This is to ensure that the existing track is able to accommodate deliveries during the construction of the wind farm.

"Equivalent replacement land accessed from the Boat road has been identified and offered."