[Closed] Wind farms = MTB trails

"What we have got here is perfection, unspoilt landscapes."

Umm, is this area not an industrial landscape??
Or was coal some how extracted with out any changes to the land at all 😕

Asked how he felt when the wind farm was approved on Tuesday, Lindsay Milsom said: "In a word, disappointed. We've campaigned for 13 years against wind farms and their development."

He said the new wind farm would "devastate the way of life in Glyncorrwg," adding: "[b]It'll be visually unacceptable[/b] to most of the people living here.

LOL, Has Lindsay ever walked around Glyncorrwg ? 😯

Should have negotiated up to two trails and a nightclub 8)

I did laugh at the unspoilt part. Have they been to Glyncorrwg. It sort of defines a post industrial revolution landscape. Never mind the chic charm of the village itself.

devastate the way of life in Glyncorrwg

Lol! Can't beat a bit of ludicrous exaggeration eh?

This won't be another trail for Afan at all: say bye bye to Whites Level and to Skyline - might get a replacement trail in goodnes knows how many years time - look at what a fist the useless to**ers at the FC and NPTC have made of things like Penheyd (spelling) back in 12 months they said but now gone for ever.

Skyline is one of my favorite days out on the mtb and it will be sad to see it lost for good.

In case you didn't know coal stopped quite some time ago in the area - sit at the top of the runway on skyline on a sunny evening and look down the valleys - a great view.

@ all of you above - any of you live in the afan valley or in any of the s.wales valleys for that matter.

You wait until the Rossendale wind farm on Scout Moor doubles 😯

Why is a foreign company doing this and will they put it in writing that the existing trails will not be destroyed and any that are will be replaced?

@kaesae - sent an email to Cognation (s.wales l.a. mtb hub) asking the same question.

I always cringe at the post industrial awfulness of Glycorreg - pebbledashed terraces, self evident poverty with grassed over slag heaps for neighbours, dead end valley, clearly sod all jobs, best thing is road down the valley to the outside world. It needs wealth creating jobs period and whilst I doubt a wind farm will create many jobs it will hardly ruin unspoilt countryside.

Nipper99. My in-laws family and extended family live in Blaenavon, Merthyr and Brynmawr. I know the valleys and they can be grim, sticking wind turbines on them won't ruin them.

MTBers bring plenty of money into the economy. How many of my Surrey audi driving MTBer friends would ever have visted, stayed and eaten there before without Cwmcarn, Afan etc...

my dad lives quite close to Glyncorrwg, in Bryn. those villages- cymer, glyncorrwg etc are the mother of all post industrial shitholes. the only reason the residents didnt flee 3 generations ago is that they are too thick to realise there is no point in living there. 5 yrs ago there were ex council houses for sale for £3k - and still i wasnt tempted. why would you live there? there isnt even any farm land since the FC planted

i had a local tell me, at a community consultation meeting thing, that the reason the government wants to build wind farms is to burn off the excess energy produced when nuclear power stations are over demand.... he honestly thought that wind turbines are big fans running on electric!

It's called being in the single market of the EU, and UK companies can walk into other EU countries and do the same. And often do, so don't be daft about that. Best bid wins, simple.

there won't much left worth doing at afan by the time this lot get through and the country around afan may not be the lakes or n.wales but it is not a lunar landscape either and it certainly won't be improved by these eyesores. shame.

It's called being in the single market of the EU, and UK companies can walk into other EU countries and do the same. And often do, so don't be daft about that. Best bid wins, simple.

+1

OJEU

it is a lunar landscape nipper, it is a slag heap, more or less the whole valley. japanese larch? cos its the only thing that will grow there

big supporter of wind farms but the increase in size of scout moor has really effed things up for the areas oldest motorcycle trials venue. the enviros have insisted that acess is via an at present unmade road that we use to get to the moors. the wind company is going to remake re surface etc so the lorries can get up.. great you might think but no we cant use it whilst they do. and then when the work is complete the route has to be returned to natural habitat.. with no unmade road..

[quote=Nipper99 said] but it is not a lunar landscape either

I thought there were moves afoot to cut down large areas of forest in the area due to a tree disease ? If so then it's about to get a whole load more lunar.

Until someone invents that BackTotheFuture Power Cell on the futures Deloreon its either windfarms or nuclear power.

scruff - Member
Until someone invents that BackTotheFuture Power Cell on the futures Deloreon its either windfarms or nuclear power

Biomass is quietly starting to rack up the MW - I'm aware of about a GW or so in planning, much of which is converting old coal plants.

5 yrs ago there were ex council houses for sale for £3k - and still i wasnt tempted. why would you live there?

I'd have been tempted to buy a few and make them into self catering accomodation for MTBers, to be honest.

IGM - interested in the biomass. Is it crops, or waste?

Biomass is quietly starting to rack up the MW - I'm aware of about a GW or so in planning, much of which is converting old coal plants.

I was chatting to a coal fired power plant manufacturer the other day, they've been using a large percentage (20% in some areas) biomass for a decade. The biggest issue is that the fuel requires more prep (drying and different milling) which makes it not overly economical. Though I guess that'll change with time. But im not sure there's a supply big enough to meet demand. As with many things, it'll be a case of we need either a lump hammer nuclear solution (fission, or fusion would be nice!) or we'll need a piece by piece renewables solution.

Why is a foreign company doing this

I think that the worlds govts should club together and put trillions into fission research. If it works, then we'll end up with as much power as we can use. I can't think of many current environmental problems that wouldn't be solved by the introduction of plentiful cheap clean power.

If it doesn't work then consider it Keynesian stimulus.

Im not sure how they think its going to devastate Glyncorrwg..

If anything it'll help the place by bringing in some work.

This mans thinking is back to front for sure.

If hes talking about the visual aspect then I think hes being msleading as it looks like from the map the turbines will quite possible be out of sight from the village.

Sounds a lot like NIMBYism to me..

edit: regarding turbine height Ive seen various estimate at between 110 & 145m & the number of turbines between 76 & 96...

[img] http://www.vattenfall.co.uk/en/penycymoeddwindfarm/file/Pen_y_Comoedd_map.pdf_20316389.pdf [/img]

Molgrips - the 400MW site I'm thinking of it shipped cropped timber based fuel. There are 2-20MW sites based on waste, but the big stuff is generally crop. I make no comment on whether this is good or bad.

Im not sure how they think its going to devastate Glyncorrwg..

If anything it'll help the place by bringing in some work.

I'm not an expert but I was in and around Pathhead when they put that wind farm in at thingy, and the installation was mostly done by nonlocals, and once they're in they don't need much work.

I'm not an expert but I was in and around Pathhead when they put that wind farm in at thingy, and the installation was mostly done by nonlocals, and once they're in they don't need much work.

Fair enough.

molgrips - Member

I think that the worlds govts should club together and put trillions into fission research. If it works, then we'll end up with as much power as we can use.

if you mean 'fusion' - then your wish has been granted.

[url= http://www.iter.org/ ]http://www.iter.org/[/url]

only, they don't need trillions, just a few billion.

unlimited free energy....

..lets sit for a minute and think through the consequences for planet earth of the unlimited consumption that will unleash.

We'd have to expand off world pretty fast

Sorry yes, I do mean fusion. And ITER has been going on forever and is still a long way off. I'm sure if enough money was thrown at it it could progress.

.lets sit for a minute and think through the consequences for planet earth of the unlimited consumption that will unleash

Ok.. but how much consumption is currently down to energy demand? I think that a lot of things that are currently not economically viable would end up being so with free energy. I'm sure most materials could be recycled into raw materials.

mrlebowski - and I'm not saying that they're a good or bad idea because of that, and tbf the local pubs/cafes made some ones while the guys were there, but I don't believe it had a very big lngterm impact on local employment.

Molgrips: the pub is up for sale if you're still interested in the local leisure market: http://www.rightmove.co.uk/commercial-property-for-sale/property-30024797.html

Sorry yes, I do mean fusion. And ITER has been going on forever and is still a long way off. I'm sure if enough money was thrown at it it could progress.

they only started building it about a year ago, give them a chance...

edit, they started building in july 2010 - would sir like the moon on a stick also?

Ok I was thinking of fusion as a whole. ITER does look good, but assuming it does meet the suggested 450MW surplus, what then? Just build more of them? How does the cost stack up against renewables?

what then? Just build more of them?

(after a great deal of re-jigging, development, research, and a few dozen phd's)

more or less.

from the iter website:

The objective of the ITER project is to gain the knowledge necessary for the design of the next-stage device: a demonstration fusion power plant. In ITER, scientists will study plasmas under conditions similar to those expected in a future power plant. ITER will be the first fusion experiment to produce net power; it will also test key technologies, including heating, control, diagnostics, and remote maintenance.

big supporter of wind farms but the increase in size of scout moor has really effed things up for the areas oldest motorcycle trials venue

Power for 200,000 homes or somewhere to ride trials bikes................

I live in the valley and I'm an optimist 😀 Therefore based on [url= http://www.vattenfall.co.uk/en/penycymoeddwindfarm/file/Pen_y_Comoedd_map.pdf_20316389.pdf ]vague map on company website[/url] it looks like there MIGHT not be much disruption to Whites Level, especially as presumably most construction/abnormal loads will be trucked in from top of the Bwlch/Rhigos. Even if they also use the long fireroad up past the Mountain Centre/4x track, they might also spare The Wall, which touches that just once before the final descent.

Skyline looks doomed, but nobody likes Skyline anyway 😉

Must admit this is the first I've heard of it - can't believe I've missed out on consultation etc (wouldn't have objected, cos I understand I'm very lucky to live here and even if 90% of the trails were gone, there's still good stuff if you know where to look) and even more susprisingly that there haven't been great big SAY NO TO THE WIND FARM/WE DON'T LIKE CHANGE signs everywhere.

I went to the consultation when it was in Aberdare - (I'm from Rhigos). I presume the big stuff will come up from the Rhigos side yes - there is already a lot of lorry traffic on the haul roads up on top as it is (quarrying?). I'm guessing the road in for big stuff would be swansea docks/A465 to Hirwaun then up the Treherbet Mtn road/colliery somehow.

My feedback at the consultation was all positive, but ensure leave a legacy of bike tracks for all abilities. I also suggested the should install a cable car uplift from the Tower Colliery over the lake and up to the top of the skyline and a series of trails down to the Colliery too...but I can't see that happening...still - I tried

The consultation I was at was stuffed with people who were so old they had no stake in what the valleys would be like in 10 years time anyway, and certainly no idea about energy policy or anything else although they were definitely opposed to something or other

"I also suggested the should install a cable car uplift from the Tower Colliery over the lake and up to the top of the skyline and a series of trails down to the Colliery too...but I can't see that happening...still - I tried"

Not as far-fetched as you'd think. There are always local community investment clauses tied in to the contracts. With a bit of effort I'm sure some of that could come mountain biking's way (maybe not quite as far as a gondola right enough). On the big sites it's serious money.

Biomass in a large powerstation will be wood pellets from North America.Its a classed as a green fuel so the stations burning it get a subsidy of about £38 a Megawatt/hour.For a 1000MW station you will need 28 trains of pellets a day to run it.
Its about profit not clean energy

i'm never sure why skyline gets such a slagging off. my favorite trail at Afan or anywhere local and excaliber and south pit best bits of trail at Afan full stop.

I'm struggling to see why wind turbines should interfere with bile tracks, other than during construction that is fairly short term. Elsewhere in Wales I have ridden on bridleways within a 30 metres of working turbines, no fencing off, warning signs, disturbance or anything else 'untoward'. The Trans Wales made a bit of a feature of riding through a massive wind farm up north of Rhayader and sure enough most people enjoyed it, all a bit surreal in a pleasant way. South Wales is the perfect place for them really - close to big towns and cities but not an overly sensitive landscape and its er windy. Bring 'em on.

riding through a massive wind farm up north of Rhayader and sure enough most people enjoyed it, all a bit surreal in a pleasant way.

If you want surreal, ride the linking section on W2 (running past the existing Afan windfarm) on a clear night with either a new moon or a full moon 🙂

Below is the reply from Cognation re the prposed wind farm and Skyline - all is not lost.

Dear James

Thank you for your query.

It is now no longer envisaged at this stage that Skyline will close during the construction of the windfarm, due to changes to the number of wind turbines.

However, as part of the Section 106 Planning Agreement, Vattenfall, the developer, is required to provide a new mountain bike trail prior to construction to compensate for any potential disruption to Skyline.

Forestry Commission Wales is currently designing this trail on behalf of Vattenfall and this trail will be submitted to the Local Authority for agreement in the near future.

This will mean that mountain bikers will hugely benefit from the windfarm development, with the additional challenging trail.

We will continue to update www.afanforestpark.co.uk with information surrounding the development of the trails. Therefore, keep an eye on this site for news of what is happening when and information surrounding any temporary diversions/closures.

Kind regards

Lisa

work has already started on the windfarm.
Huge machinery is arriving and a site office is being setup.
large amounts of forest have cut markers on them