Look what's coming our way: warning

A substation the size of 15 football pitches will be ‘plonked’ here to service the proposed wind farms that will spring up throughout Montgomeryshire over the next five years, our MP has claimed.

As Powys planners approved the first of several proposed developments last week, giving the green light for hundreds of convoys to travel through Welshpool, Montgomeryshire MP, Glyn Davies, claims they are a dot on the landscape compared to what else is planned.

“It is no secret that I am quite resentful to wind farms because I am fed up with decisions being made in Cardiff at the National Assembly which result in these turbines being plonked here,” said Mr. Davies. “But at the moment the local people have no comprehension of the size of the substation that is required for the next round of proposed wind farms. I have been told that the station itself will be 350m x 250m which, with the landscaping around it, would take up an area of 20 acres and the size of a village.”

Mr. Davies said that he is in talks with the National Grid to try and identify where they intend to build the substation but understands they have already shortlisted up to three sites. A final decision is expected in October. He is also worried about the number of pylons that will be constructed above the ground to the National Grid hub in Shropshire.

“Montgomeryshire is one of the most beautiful parts of the world,” he said. “I agree that there is a concern about the traffic problems caused by the convoys, but my main fear is the damage that these sites will make to the environment which can never be reversed.