As a former guest at Campbell’s Cottage or visitor to the Ffestiniog area we wanted to hear your views
on whether or not the proposed wind farm at Blaenau would worry you. The bones
of the scheme are as follows:
- 11 x turbines
- 120 metres high (to put this into context the largest pylons are 50m and the reactor buildings at Trawsfynydd are 52m)
- each generating 2.3 MegaWatts
- above Llechwedd slate quarry, overlooking Blaenau
There is a
Facebook site run by the joint venture company, Moelwynt Cyf,
which is proposing the development and the joint venture partners are J W Greaves
(owners of Llechwedd) and Tegni (wind farm people).
A public
consultation is currently taking place and we attended the first of two
engagement days on 12th June. The planning application is likely to
be submitted this autumn for potential approval in April 2015 and construction
starting autumn 2015.
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| Location of the turbines Blaenau in bottom left hand corner |
At the
consultation we saw illustrated photos which plotted the views of the turbines
from 18 locations including the summits of Snowdon, the Glyderau, Carneddau and Cadair Idris.
The nearest view from Campbell’s Cottage is at the railway loop at Dduallt where from memory I think 8 or 9 of the turbines will be visible, some of which will break the horizon. The turbines will be clearly visible from Moelwyn Bach and most prominent on the main road before Tanygrisiau as you drive towards Blaenau.
The nearest view from Campbell’s Cottage is at the railway loop at Dduallt where from memory I think 8 or 9 of the turbines will be visible, some of which will break the horizon. The turbines will be clearly visible from Moelwyn Bach and most prominent on the main road before Tanygrisiau as you drive towards Blaenau.
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| Green blobs = 1 - 2 turbines visible Yellow blobs = 9 - 11 turbines visible |
On the one
hand we need more renewable energy and local employment and the developers are offering £100,000 a
year to the Blaenau community. On the other hand the landscape and the stunning
views are important to some people. We are undecided on this and genuinely want
to know what you think?
Please drop
us an email or add your feedback or comment to this blogpost, whichever is the
most convenient. In particular we would like to know whether this development
might cause you to choose another destination outside of Snowdonia.
P.S. How big is 120m? I typed it into Google and the world's 3rd tallest sculpture is 120m tall and this is what it looks like .... with high voltage power lines in the background.
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| The Ushiku Daibutsu in Japan Photo Wikipedia |
Hi there, thanks for the news, a zipwire, bike ride or walk against a nearby backdrop of wind turbines is going to severely limit Blaenau's ability to sell itself as an adventure destination if rather than enhancing the natural environment we further industrialise it. I really rather think turbines should be off-shore and pretty much out of sight.
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