Fears over land lined up for electricity pylons
Jonathan Wilkinson surveys the beauty of the Meifod valley from the farm that had been in his family for decades. But it's a beauty that could soon be spoiled forever, he fears.
For the valley is the potential route of a line of electricity pylons linking a proposed substation at Cefn Coch to the National Grid at Frankton in north Shropshire.
The substation would harness the power from windfarms that could be built across mid Wales over the coming years.
But the fight for the valley is not the first for the Wilkinson family.
In the 1960s his father Ron was part of a campaign to stop plans to create dams along the Vyrnwy valley to provide drinking water.
"The campaign was successful and the dams were never built," he said. "It is not just my land that will be affected, it is the land down the valley and over the border into Shropshire."
Mr Wilkinson, chairman of Montgomery Against Pylons, said that he had always found beauty on the family farm and surrounding countryside.
"Now that that beauty is threatened I, and a lot of other people who live here, appreciate what we have even more."
The windfarms are themselves under scrutiny at a public inquiry being held in Welshpool.
The inquiry was adjourned yesterday for a fortnight.
