Windfarm planning application to be determined by Welsh Ministers

12 October 2023

A planning application for a windfarm development in north Powys will now be determined by Welsh Government Ministers, it has been announced.

Powys County Council has received notification that Welsh Ministers have made the decision to call-in the planning application for the proposed windfarm on land at Esgair Cwmowen near Carno in order to determine the application themselves.

The application for the proposed development, which was submitted to the council in 2010, comprises 11 wind turbines (installed capacity of up to 37.95 MW), anemometer mast, substation and control building, site entrance, new and improved access tracks and all associated building and engineering operations and landscaping together with highway improvements.

The decision to call-in and determine the application was made by Welsh Ministers because they considered the application to raise issues of more than local importance.

Cllr Jake Berriman, Cabinet Member for a Connected Powys, said: "This planning application was submitted to the council in 2010, before the Developments of National Significance application process was established in 2016.

"The proposed development is for an onshore windfarm with over 10MW of installed generating capacity, it meets the specified criteria in the Developments of National Significance application process.

"Had the application been submitted after 2016, it would automatically have been made to the Welsh Ministers. As the proposed development meets the Developments of National Significance application criteria as it raises issues of more than local importance, it will now be determined by Welsh Ministers.

"This has been a significant renewable energy project which we kept 'live' in the hope that the applicant would be able to resolve outstanding issues, but this has not been the case to date. It remains for the applicant to withdraw the proposals or to carry on with them."