Environment and Sustainability Committee
Inquiry into Energy Policy and Planning in Wales

EPP 177 – Mark Davies

Dafydd Elis-Thomas AM

Chairman

Environment and Sustainability Committee

Welsh Assembly Government

Cardiff Bay

CF99 1NA

22nd September 2011

Dear Dafydd Elis Thomas

I am writing with reference to your circular letter dated 2nd August 2011, in which you set out the terms of the Committee's inquiry into energy policy and planning in Wales. My views on this issue relate in particular to the third and sixth of the bullet points on the second page of your letter.

When considering the potential contribution of onshore wind projects, the Welsh Assembly Government has, in my view, seriously misjudged the cost and efficacy of this type of energy production. A number of figures are used to assess the effectiveness of electricity production by wind turbines and it seems - at best - that production is only 30% efficient. It is incomprehensible that you are prepared to spend billions of pounds of my money investing in an inherently inefficient means of production. If you proceed, we - and that includes you and your fellow Assembly Members - will, as individual Council Tax payers, Income Tax payers and electricity consumers, bear the cost of this folly for the rest of our lives. There are those, of course, who will benefit - both in the short and the long term - principally the shareholders of National Grid, few of whom live in the area you propose to desecrate. As an aside, there is also the question of your personal and political reputation: perhaps you won't mind being remembered as one of the people who wrecked the environment of Montgomeryshire.

I have alluded to the self-evident damage which will be done to an area of outstanding natural beauty,even if not officially designated as such. The impact of the construction of turbines, a hub [perhaps more than one?], sub-stations and pylons on local communities is equally self-evident. You will have had that impact described to you at length and in detail, so it serves no purpose to repeat it here. Must we endure a permanent assault on our local environment from abnormal lorry loads and associated construction projects to achieve a level of energy production which could easily be surpassed by the creation of a barrage across the Severn estuary, notwithstanding the adverse impact on wildfowl populations?

I know that I am not alone in viewing the action to date of the Welsh Assembly Government as nothing short of outrageous. The anger that people feel will increase immeasurably if the proposed course is continued. Be warned.

Yours sincerely

Mark Davies