Welshpool pledge to keep fighting windfarms

Civic leaders in Welshpool have vowed to continue objecting to all windfarm applications which pass through the chamber because of issues over transporting turbine sections.

Welshpool Town Council claims that plans to transport wind turbine blades and towers through Welshpool will have a detrimental effect on the area.

At a meeting of the town council last night Robert Robinson, town clerk, said the authority had received another application for a 43-turbine windfarm near Llanbrynmair.

He said: "We need to keep on objecting to all windfarm applications. There are a lot of issues ongoing and these need to be ironed out before any windfarms can progress."

He added that plans for hundreds of wind turbines, an electricity substation and dozens of pylons in Mid Wales would 'totally destroy' the area.

He said: "The transport will hit everyone and will end up travelling through a lot of areas in Mid Wales, including Welshpool.

"Our roads are just not big enough to cope with thousands of wind turbine lorries that are being proposed. If they come through our town it will put the safety of residents at risk and damage the fabric of the historic town centre."

It comes after Montgomeryshire AM Russell George hit out at claims by Welsh Assembly First Minister Carwyn Jones that windfarms would have no impact on tourism in rural areas of Mid Wales.