Could massive solar farms damage the Gwent Levels?
Planning and Environment Decisions Wales (PEDW) is currently reviewing the controversial Wentlooge Solar development. The proposed 318-acre site has sparked fierce debate, following damning evidence of environmental destruction caused by a similar solar project at Llanwern.
Geoff Devlin of Stop Craig y Perthi—a campaign opposing another proposed solar farm near Bishton—said: "To influence debate in the Senedd, people need to be aware of and discussing the key issues. There is now clear evidence of serious environmental damage caused by the Llanwern solar site, and people must pressure politicians. It's the only way to influence those in the Senedd."
PEDW is ruling on the Wentlooge site after operators RWE appealed a previous rejection under Development of National Significance (DNS) rules. The Welsh Government's 2019 declaration of a climate emergency may bolster RWE's case, as the site could be seen as contributing to climate policy goals.
The legal battle coincides with a Welsh Government-commissioned study into the Llanwern solar plant—built entirely within two Sites of Special Scientific Interest (SSSIs)—which revealed catastrophic impacts on wildlife and water quality.
Lapwing breeding pairs dropped from eight to two, with no successful nesting recorded in 2023. Shrill carder bee and brown-banded carder bee populations plummeted, likely due to herbicide use and failed wildflower planting. Bat activity declined sharply. The rare Eurasian crane, once seen as a hopeful returnee to the Levels, has vanished.
The report also highlights dangerous pollutants—including cadmium and lead—leaking into the reens and ditches, vital waterways that support otters, water voles, and rare aquatic flora. These findings were presented at PEDW hearings, raising urgent questions about whether mitigation measures can ever succeed in such a fragile ecosystem.
Gwent Wildlife Trust CEO Natalie Buttriss stated: "Mitigation has failed catastrophically. The proposed Wentlooge site is even larger than Llanwern and poses an even greater threat to this irreplaceable landscape."
Campaigners emphasize they are not opposed to solar energy, but argue that developments must avoid nationally protected areas. Only 12% of Wales is designated as SSSI, and these fragments, they say, should be sacrosanct. With vast areas of non-designated land available, they urge the Welsh Government to redirect solar projects away from sensitive habitats.
The Gwent Levels—often dubbed Wales's Amazon—are home to a rich mosaic of wildlife. Magor Marsh, a flagship reserve of Gwent Wildlife Trust, preserves one of the last remaining pieces of natural fenland in Britain. From cuckoos and warblers to kingfishers and wintering teal, the area supports biodiversity year-round. The reens, unique to the Levels, remain a haven for water voles—one of the UK's fastest declining mammals.
Public support for protecting the Levels is growing, with backing from naturalists Iolo Williams, Gillian Burke, and Lizzie Daly, and authors Julian Hoffman and Horatio Clare.
As PEDW prepares its decision, campaigners warn that approval could set a precedent for industrial-scale development on protected land.
Meanwhile, green energy giant RWE still operates lignite power stations in Central Europe. Lignite is a highly invasive and inefficient source of carbon energy. RWE has committed to phasing out all lignite sites by 2030.
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
South Wales Guardian
4 hours ago
- South Wales Guardian
New payment scheme for farmers unveiled amid industry doubts
The plan has been seven years in the making and has been the subject of widespread protests by farmers during the consultation stages. The SFS will replace EU-era subsidies, which farmers had received for decades based largely on how much land they had. Most rely on these payments - an average of 67% of Welsh farm income - came from subsidies in 2020-21. The SFS aims to reward farmers and land managers for 'public good' practices such as like wildlife habitat and soaking up carbon in the land. Wildlife groups warned the new plan fell "far short" of helping farmers to successfully tackle climate change and nature loss. For their initial 'universal' payment, farmers will have to agree to carry out 12 actions ranging from soil health planning and habitat maintenance, to online courses to enhance knowledge and skills related to sustainable farming. There will also be funding to recognise "social value" - something farmers had called for - and which aims to recognise what are described as the wider benefits that sustainable agriculture provides to society, from food production to sustaining rural communities. An extra £1,000 will go to smaller farms in 2026 as a one-off stability payment to acknowledge the uncertain period of transition. A further optional layer of the scheme is intended to top up farm incomes for further environmental work, including woodland creation, improved public access to the countryside and support to go organic. A collaborative payment will also be available in future to support farmers working together on landscape-scale projects. The Welsh Government has said it will commit £238m in 2026 for the universal payments - equivalent to the current, main subsidy farms receive, known as the Basic Payment Scheme (BPS). 'Significant' funding for optional and collaborative work is also promised - with an overall budget similar to the £340m currently designated to farming. But farming unions and environmental groups alike said far more was required - closer to £500m, to account for rising costs in agriculture and the scale of what was now being asked of farmers to deliver. The Welsh Government said its plans will support food production and address environmental concerns A requirement for 10% tree cover has ben dropped. Instead the government said it was asking farmers to plant at least 0.1 hectares - or 250 trees by the end of 2028. There would be "generous support for tree and hedgerow planting" in the optional layer, including a higher payment rate for tree planting during the first three years of the scheme. The government is also targeting 1,500km (932 miles) of hedgerow extension by 2030, with an aspiration of achieving 2,000km (1,243 miles). NFU Cymru said the Welsh Government's decision to slash the Basic Payment Scheme (BPS) by 40% for 2026 overshadows much of the positive work undertaken to improve the new Sustainable Farming Scheme (SFS). NFU Cymru President Aled Jones said: 'This unwelcome decision by Welsh Government is extremely worrying for farmers in Wales who had previously been informed that those opting not to enter the new Sustainable Farming Scheme in 2026 would receive 80% of their BPS. Farming businesses have forward planned on this basis. 'This development is even more of a blow given significant guidance and technical detail is yet to be published which farmers need if they are to make informed decisions about whether to enter the scheme from 1st January 2026.' He also argued that '… the level of detail, constraints, administration, costs and bureaucracy attached to the SFS is significant and far greater than anything seen before. We remain deeply worried about the burden this scheme will place on a sector low in confidence and already dealing with a mountain of red tape.' Farmers Union of Wales President Ian Rickman the scheme marked a generational milestone for the future of Welsh agriculture.' 'To highlight some of the key successes, we have secured a total budget for the Universal Baseline Payment and BPS taper combined of £238 million, providing workable payment rates and much needed stability for the sector,' he said. 'This includes the provision of universal payments for common land rights holders. 'We have retained and strengthened the application of capped and redistributive payments, a longstanding policy position for the FUW and one that maximises the amount of money going to typical Welsh family farms and rural communities.'
BBC News
4 hours ago
- BBC News
Welsh bottle returns to start in 2027
Wales' bottle and can return scheme will launch at the same time as the rest of the UK's on 1 October 2027 after a rethink in Cardiff - but without glass being fully part of it at the Welsh government had planned to go it alone and stay out of a UK scheme after it failed to convince the UK government to include glass, but ministers appear to have backed means consumers will be able to be refunded for returning drinks containers from the same date as in England, Scotland and Northern Ireland, if they are plastic or while glass will be collected at the start, customers will not be refunded for the bottles they hand over. Deposit return schemes (DRS) try to promote the recycling and reuse of bottles and cans by offering money or vouchers for their the scheme a deposit will be added to the cost of a drink, which can be refunded when it is Wales was told that whilst glass will be collected as part of the scheme, the refundable deposit will not be Welsh government says this will allow for a "grace period" until the deposit comes into date has been given for when that grace period will end. Officials say it will allow "time for industry to adapt labelling, production, and distribution systems".In a statement Deputy First Minister Huw Irranca-Davies said he had listened to "industry concerns" and would align with the UK's plans. The Welsh government decided not to join a UK-wide DRS scheme last year after it tried and failed to get the then-new UK Labour government to agree to glass being part of the UK government has stuck to a decision by the previous Conservative administration, which had opposed glass' inclusion due to difficulties it said would be caused to the drinks a result, it was not clear when Wales' new scheme would actually start - with the Welsh government having said it would be later than 2027. In a written statement to the Senedd last week, Irranca-Davies said: "We have heard clearly from industry that the scenario where a scheme is introduced in the other parts of the UK, with no scheme in place in Wales, carries the greatest risk of operational complexity and associated costs."I have therefore set out to industry that we are willing to accelerate our implementation timetable to align with the rest of the UK, which would provide for interoperability between common materials."He added: "Glass remains in scope of our scheme, as this means that in Wales, we will be able to begin to roll-out reuse as a core part of the scheme."In a further statement, the Welsh government said the Wales DRS will be in place by 1 October reusable drinks containers, understood to be plastics and cans, a spokesperson said "these will be phased Wales wide following a large-scale reuse trial which will build on the DRS trials that we have already undertaken in Wales"."For single-use glass: glass will be collected from day one of the scheme in Wales, but without deposit being applied initially," the spokesperson added."This arrangement allows a grace period which avoids the need for immediate changes to labelling, production, or distribution systems, helping to ensure a smooth transition for all participants." The statement from the Welsh government attracted a negative response from major industry British Retail Consortium, British Soft Drinks Association, British Beer and Pub Association and Natural Source Water Association welcomed the intention to align with the rest of the UK on bottles and they said they were "disappointed" the Welsh government was "still committed to forging its own path by including single-use glass drinks bottles from October 2027, a move which will significantly increase the cost and complexity of developing such a scheme while failing to deliver the environmental benefits a well-run DRS should deliver".
BBC News
5 hours ago
- BBC News
Details of Sustainable Farming Scheme for Wales unveiled
Major changes to the financial support available for agriculture marks "a new relationship between the people of Wales and farmers", the Welsh government has protest-hit plan for greener farm subsidy payments - known as the Sustainable Farming Scheme (SFS) - has been seven years in the leaders have described the publication of a final set of proposals as "a once in a generation event".But wildlife groups warned the new plan fell "far short" of helping farmers to successfully tackle climate change and nature loss. The SFS will replace EU-era subsidies, which farmers had received for decades based largely on how much land they rely on these payments - an average of 67% of Welsh farm income - came from subsidies in new approach aims to reward sustainable farming practices and the delivery of "public goods" like wildlife habitat and soaking up carbon in the land. For their initial "universal" payment, farmers will have to agree to carry out 12 actions ranging from soil health planning and habitat maintenance, to online courses to enhance knowledge and skills related to sustainable sums also include funding to recognise "social value" - something farmers had called for - and which aims to recognise what are described as the wider benefits that sustainable agriculture provides to society, from food production to sustaining rural will also be an extra £1,000 for smaller farms in 2026 as a one-off stability payment to acknowledge the uncertain period of scheme's optional layer is intended to top up farm incomes for further environmental work, including woodland creation, improved public access to the countryside and support to go organic.A collaborative payment will also be available in future to support farmers working together on landscape-scale projects. The Welsh government has said it will commit £238m in 2026 for the universal payments - equivalent to the current, main subsidy farms receive, known as the Basic Payment Scheme (BPS)."Significant" funding for optional and collaborative work is also promised - with an overall budget similar to the £340m currently designated to farming unions and environmental groups alike said far more was required - closer to £500m, to account for rising costs in agriculture and the scale of what was now being asked of farmers to Cymru said it was frustrating the total budget remained static, but the Farmers' Union of Wales (FUW) said the plan proposed "workable payment rates" and provided "much needed stability for the sector". Rhodri Lloyd-Williams, who farms sheep and cattle across 750 acres of hillside near Talybont, Ceredigion, said this was "a massive moment", after "years of uncertainty" following the Brexit vote in an organic farmer and member of the Nature Friendly Farming Network, his is exactly the sort of farming system ministers want to support, from rotational grazing of livestock to boost soil health, to planting hedges and said he would glad to see the new scheme include "a bit more encouragement" for this sort of work, which he said could deliver "multiple benefits" for both the farming business and "first and foremost we need to keep Welsh farmers farming," he said. Debate over the years has focused on how to make the scheme workable for farmers while ambitious enough to deliver against Wales' environmental government had already made some major concessions - such as scrapping a requirement for farms to have 10% tree cover to qualify for funding, after widespread farmer protests in plan outlines a new approach to encouraging farmers entering the scheme will need to complete an opportunity plan for woodland and hedgerow creation in the first year and demonstrate progress towards it by government said it was asking farmers to plant at least 0.1 hectares - or 250 trees by the end of would be "generous support for tree and hedgerow planting" in the optional layer, including a higher payment rate for tree planting during the first three years of the aim is for the scheme to deliver at least 17,000 hectares of new tree planting across Wales by 2030, with an aspiration of achieving 21,500 government's also targeting 1,500km (932 miles) of hedgerow extension by 2030, with an aspiration of achieving 2,000km (1,243 miles). 'Deeply concerned' But wildlife groups said they felt much of the scheme has been watered down to placate protesting Sharp, director of Wildlife Trusts Wales, said the organisation was "deeply concerned" the SFS would not "adequately address the climate and nature crises"."Welsh farming is in crisis - fewer farms, fewer jobs, and increasing environmental damage. "We need to see an increased budget for the SFS, specifically for the optional and collaborative tiers, to help farmers transition to nature-friendly farming practices," she Phillips, Policy and Advocacy Manager at WWF Cymru said it appeared the SFS was now "sustainable in name only"."Today's proposals for the first year fall far short of what's needed to deliver change quickly, and in part risks recreating bits of the old schemes with exaggerated area-based payment rates for little apparent public good," he said. The announcement comes ahead of the start of the annual Royal Welsh Agricultural Show next week, where politicians of all colours will be setting out their own vision for the future of farming and the countryside with less than a year to a Senedd then, the government promises a tool will be ready on their website for farmers to be able to calculate an indicative SFS payment for their first minister with responsibility for climate change and rural affairs, Huw Irranca-Davies, said the government had "listened carefully to farmers across Wales and revised our approach to ensure it works for the agricultural industry and meets our shared responsibilities to the natural world around us"."With this in mind, the scheme represents a new relationship between the people of Wales and our farmers. "This is not just a scheme for farmers, this is a scheme for the whole of Wales – a whole farm, whole nation approach," he said.
