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

EPP 253 – JR & LE Hancock

Committee Clerk

Environment and Sustainability Committee

National Assembly for Wales

Cardiff

Dear Sir/Madam

Re: Call for Review of Tan 8

We are writing to draw  the Comittees's attention,  to  our alarm and anger at the proposed industrialisation of Montgomeryshire and mid-Wales as a consequence of policies outlined in the Tan8 document, drawn up by the Welsh Assembly Government.

We believe that the WAG is guilty of failure of  duty of care by its:

a)  failure to have undertaken an environmental study on the implications of Tan8, with no assessment having been done on the potential for flooding and erosion as a result of the destruction of huge areas of woodland, to be replaced by tons of concrete; furthermore  no consideration has been given to the potential impact on  wildlife of this woodland destruction and general disturbance of long established habitats;

b) failure to undertake a study on the social, economic and environmental implications of transporting wind turbines  and  additional heavy construction  and maintenance traffic through towns, villages and country lanes, with regard to potential for structural damage to roads and adjacent buildings, as well as the high degree of disruption to normal and tourist traffic, including emergency services, and to life in general of the Montgomershire public;

c)  failure to  evaluate the inappropiateness of the existing infrastructure to withstand the  wider implications of these proposals;

d) total disregard for the impact on tourism of the desecration of the visual amenity by the intrusion of large scale windfarms and the pylons that will be needed to service them;  the area is renowned for its scenic beauty  and the local tourism industry has a value of  £650m, employing 6 500 people; furthermore the traffic turmoil that will endure for a number of years particularly in Welshpool, will not only affect tourism in that town, but also from that town right down to the mid-Wales coast;

d) failure to update an assessment of  potential noise nuisance in relation to the very large wind turbines, and large numbers of them  that will now be in use; low frequency noise, such as that which will be emitted, is scientifically accepted as a health hazard, to the degree that it has been researched and used as a weapon of war; expensive compensation claims could result;

e) failure to take into consideration the known  health risks associated with pylons, as certified by the Draper Report 2005 regarding the increase  of 69% in childhood leukaemia

within 200 metres of power lines;

f) failure to recognise the consequences of this scale of development on property values which are already blighted, and could give rise to  extensive compensation claims  perhaps in a class action;

g) failure to safeguard the heritage of future generations of Wales from the desecration of historic sites that proliferate in the area;

In their handling of this matter, and especially now in their  apparent reluctance to revist the issue and review tan8,  we hold the Wesh Assembly Government guilty of betrayal of Welsh history and language, and of its  people. First our valleys are flooded, now it's Welshmen who encourage  the dancing of oversized wind turbines on our hillsides, and the marching of giant pylons through the valleys once traversed  by  Owain Glyndwr.  There might be some point to it, if windpower  was  a reliable  resource. It will still need to be supported by nuclear  power and what about the enormous carbon footprint of all that concrete and infrastructural disruption for transport & maintenance?

Hang your heads in shame, and hope that your grandchildren will not one day ask you what you did to stop this desecration.

Yours etc

J.R. & L.E. HANCOCK