Editor

Pumlumon, Aberystwyth’s “local” mountain is once again under threat from developers. Now Lluest y Gwynt Wind Farm Ltd have designs on what is regarded as Wales’ third mountain massif.

So where is Lluest y Gwynt? You will not find this place name on the Aberystwyth OS map, perhaps it is one of those fabricated names so beloved of wind farm developers? Looking at the developer’s website the “farm” is above Ponterwyd and spreads down the southern slopes to include Y Garn, the most southerly of Pumlumon’s tops. The map of the proposed site also shows the boundary going right up to the summit of Pumlumon Fawr, and even though the developers assure us that they will go nowhere near the actual summit with a turbine, it will be hard to miss a 180m tall ‘cloudscraper’ even sited hundreds of metres from what is Mid Wales’ highest mountain.

Also included are blocks of the Pumlumon Site of Special Scientific Interest, tracts of Common Land an NRW managed forest, as well as part of the largest watershed in Wales - a massive sponge, for rain water (and carbon). Additionally, in Ceredigion Council’s Local Development Plan the authority has designated this section of the Cambrian Mountains as a Special Landscape Area.

The website points to the wind farm consisting of up to 24 turbines and that each, to blade tip, may reach 180m into the sky. To put things into perspective, Mynydd Gorddu wind farm above Talybont has 19 turbines each with a blade tip height of 54m and the Blaenplwyf telecoms mast is just 152m tall. But what has not been made clear as yet is, how many km of access tracks will snake over these rolling hills? How will the electricity generated be carried away from the site?

The Cambrian Mountains Society is very concerned over this industrialisation of what is an iconic semi-natural landscape.

Peter Foulkes, Acting Chairperson Cambrian Mountains Society, Machynlleth

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