Equestrian claimant wins battle over permission for wind turbine

A Powys equestrian has won a judicial review against the construction of a wind turbine near to his land.

Powys County Council had granted permission last December for the 40 metres tall turbine at Upper Pengarth, Radnor, close to where Graham Williams runs his horse riding business Free Rein.

He warned of the potentially damaging impact the turbine would have on the local landscape and economy.

Law firm Irwin Mitchell’s public law team helped Williams to convince the High Court that the council failed to properly consider the development in conjunction with applications for other turbines to be installed nearby.

Solicitor Justin Neal said: “It’s all very well to say that a turbine in isolation will have a limited impact on people and the environment – but where there are a number of existing and proposed turbines in the same area, the application should be put in context. That simply did not happen here.”

Mr Williams said: “People who come to the Radnor Hills do so because they are undeveloped and the scenery is world class. They see these turbines as intrusions which will put them off coming.”

Irwin Mitchell argued that when the council gave permission it did not fully considered its own unitary development plan, which states that wind farm applications will only be approved where “they do not unacceptably affect the environmental and landscape quality” of the area, either on their own or in combination with other developments.

An officers’ report on the original application described Upper Pengarth as “an attractive traditional pastoral landscape [but] not unusual or particularly distinctive”.

Mark Smulian