AN APPEAL against a Pembrokeshire County Council (PCC) refusal of plans to site five 100 metre high wind turbines near Rhoscrowther was dismissed late last week.

On February 4, Planning Inspector Alwyn Nixon dismissed the Appeal by Rhoscrowther Windfarm Ltd against the January 2015 refusal by PCC for the turbines on land between the Valero Oil Refinery and the National Park boundary.

PCC had refused consent for the turbines and associated works because of the adverse impact on the National Park and on the local historic landscape.

The turbines, if granted, would have been the largest rural windfarm constructed in the county.

The Public Inquiry was held in the Cleddau Bridge Hotel, Pembroke Dock during November and December. The main objectors were PCC, represented by Tina Douglass, the Pembrokeshire branch of CPRW, and local residents of the Angle Peninsula.

Inspector Nixon dismissed the appeal because it would harm “the landscape and visual effects of the proposed development, having particular regard to its effect on the nearby Pembrokeshire Coast National Park.”

Mr Nixon also suggested it would affect the settings of heritage assets in the area and questioned whether “any resulting harm in terms of these or other matters is outweighed by the benefits of the proposal, including its contribution to energy generation from renewable sources and combating the effects of climate change.”

Although he acknowledged the socio-economic benefits that would derive from the scheme and the delivery of electrical power equivalent to the consumption of about 7,000 homes from a low carbon, renewable source, he concluded that “the proposal would fail to satisfy LDP policy GN.4, as the objective of delivering renewable energy developments through environmentally acceptable solutions would not be achieved.”