Bute Energy windfarm blocked by 'out-of-date' reports on badgers, bats and birds

Martin Shipton

Bute Energy has suffered a setback to its strategy to create a network of windfarms across mid Wales after a planning inspector ruled that reports on how animals will be affected by it are out of date.

The plans are highly controversial and have attracted opposition from residents and some environmentalists who argue that the nation’s landscape will be ruined.

The new ruling has at least temporarily blocked the 31-turbine Nant Mithil Energy Park covering Radnor Forest in southern Powys, around five and a half miles east of Llandrindod Wells.

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Protected Species

It states: “A combined survey for badger, otter and water vole was conducted between September and November 2022. In relation to these surveys, the Protected Species Survey Report … states: ‘the survey data in this report is considered valid for 18 months.

"Should construction of the proposed development occur after April 2024, it is recommended that an update survey is undertaken … to ensure there has been no significant change to the baseline outlined in this report.’

“Although an additional survey for otters took place, it was only for one day on August 7 2023 and the surveyors were unable to access parts of the site with potential for otter activity. Given their age, I do not consider the surveys are sufficiently up to date to provide reliable data on the presence of badger, otter and water vole.”

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Bats

In terms of the impact on bats, the report states: “Bat surveys took place in 2020 and 2022 and an area in the south of the site was surveyed in 2023. Given the latest full survey is over two years old and the 2023 survey was only partial, I do not consider the surveys are a reliable starting point for understanding bat activity within the site.

“The layout of the turbines has changed since the 2020 and 2022 surveys and no detectors were sited within close proximity to the final proposed turbine locations. The authors of the Environmental Statement consider the data to be sufficient to inform decisions, but in light of my findings regarding the 2020, 2022 and 2023 surveys, I disagree.

“Turning to ornithology, flight activity surveys were undertaken between October 2019 and March 2022. Wintering bird walkover surveys were carried out between October and March, 2019-2020 and 2020-2021. Breeding bird surveys took place between April and July in 2020 and 2021.

“Surveys for night jars and nesting raptors and owls were conducted in 2020 and 2021. Given their age, I do not consider the surveys are sufficiently up to date to provide reliable data regarding ornithological interests within the site.

“I am not satisfied, therefore, that with respect to ornithology, bats, badger, otter and water vole, the surveys supporting the ES are adequate.

Ramifications

Asked how much of a setback to Bute Energy’s plans the failure to get its reports approved was, the company’s managing director Stuart George said: “We’re still exploring exactly what the ramifications are. We submitted the planning application for Nant Mithil in December to Pedw (Planning and Environment Decisions Wales) and very much encouraged a thorough examination of our application. It seems there are many positives to come out of it, but what they’ve done is question some of the survey validity windows, which basically means when we did the surveys and how long were the surveys valid for.

“We’re confident that our surveys are valid, but it’s a subjective analysis, so we’re waiting to see what the next steps are.”

Asked how much of a delay he thought the project faced, Mr George said: “We think it’s up to six months. We would hope that it’s less than that. What we’d like to do is fully understand what Pedw’s rationale and suggestion of the next steps are. Of course we’ll adhere to anything they want us to do.”

He was asked whether he did not realise that there would be a problem in submitting old test results. He responded: “That wasn’t necessarily the case. We went into pre-application consultation last year, in the summer of 2024. At that point we presented our full planning application to the planning inspector and the statutory consultees.

"There wasn’t necessarily some feedback to suggest that our survey window would be out of date. “We're now in a window of time where there’s a slight grey area. What we’re hoping is that we can present our robust data back to the planning inspectorate, but it’s possible we may need to do some new surveys just to ensure that the EIA (Environmental Impact Assessment) is fully up to date.”