Anglesey Council will mount a legal challenge against planning permission granted for a solar energy development.
Welsh Government Ministers recently approved the application for the Alaw Môn development, a ground mounted solar array, which would cover around 268 hectares of agricultural land, between Llantrisant and Llannerch-y-Medd.
Permission was granted despite significant opposition from both members of the public and county council.
Now the council’s Executive has agreed to proceed with a legal challenge. The decision comes days after the Full Council voted in favour of investigating every possible option, including judicial review, to challenge the decision.
Council Leader, Councillor Gary Pritchard, said:
“As a council, we are disappointed and frustrated at the Welsh Government’s decision to permit the Alaw Môn solar farm development contrary to its own policies on the use of best and most versatile agricultural land. The proposed development has caused a great deal of worry in our communities and concerns about food safety in the future.
“The council has made its opposition to a number of key aspects of this application from the outset, and I’m pleased that concerns raised will now lend themselves to support this legal challenge.”
Anglesey Independents Group Leader, Cllr Aled Morris Jones, added:
“We cannot afford to lose valuable agricultural land. This project is akin to drowning an area just like Tryweryn, in this case not with water but with solar panels.”
Independent Group Leader, Cllr Ieuan Williams, said:
“I’m disappointed with the Minister and the Inspectorate and I think we should do everything possible to overturn this decision made in Cardiff.”
The construction period of the proposed solar development would take around 12 months, and it would be operational for 40 years before being decommissioned.
