Letter to the Editor

Dear Editor,

   Does the right hand know what the left hand is doing in Wales? A half-page Press report has appeared ,entitled  “Work on adventure resort gets underway.” It is in the Afan Valley , north of Port Talbot and Maesteg at Caerau. It says “This will be the first resort developed by new company…Wildfox Resorts Group…and when it finally opens , guests will be accommodated  in 570 lodges and 130 apartments and rooms enjoying a  wide range of indoor and outdoor adventure activities.”  That’s massive! It entails 2800 visitors [at only four people per accommodation booking].

     Firstly; how on Earth will all these visitors sleep in thinly-walled chalets if the gigantic Bryn Wind Farm is constructed on 1000 ft high Mynydd Margam ,only about 2 miles south-west  of this holiday park at Caerau , in the upper Afan Valley?  The 21 wind turbines will be a phenomenal 820 ft high. The  “Thump! Thump! Thump! “racket ,especially at night, will be unbelievable  within 5 miles…..especially with prevailing winds blowing  from the south-west  towards the holiday park. 

    When I phoned the Wildfox office last week, the finance  man I spoke to seemed to be totally unaware of the gigantic Bryn Wind Farm ,which will be visible from all high ground within 25 miles. It will be visible from Exmoor, Devon !  Bryn Windfarm will wreck all tourism enterprises within 5 miles, as well as blight and devalue all local homes with unacceptable ,gigantic , noisy eye-sores…..erected by an Irish Government owned company called Coriolis Energy.  Does the Welsh Government  have any plans to erect  a wind farm on the Wicklow Hills to power Dublin, I wonder?

    Secondly: Will Welsh tax-payers be helping to fund this  massive Wildfox Resorts  holiday complex? If one Googles  Wildfox Resorts Group in Companies House , one finds very few fiscal assets [to put it politely!]. So where is this “£250 Million holiday resort and its 1000 jobs” going to obtain such huge funding? Granted ! It does have some impressive backers.  How much are they personally investing ? How much will Welsh tax-payers fork out?

    Wildfox Resort is a massive gamble  from the very start…….and 21  gargantuan ,EXTREMELY  noisy wind turbines 820 feet high,  just to the south-west , will wreck its prospects of success, long-term.  You won’t find 820ft wind turbines in USA, England or anywhere else !! 

      What is the opinion of Port Talbot MP, Mr Stephen Kinnock, I wonder?  After all, his wife Helle, a former Danish Prime Minister, is a director of Vestas Wind Turbines, who are plastering Wales with their part-time  three-arm bandits…..to supply England, not Wales…….with their sporadic “now-and-again”  energy.

As a wind energy developer, Mr Kinnock  should know all the details of the industry. Yet he is VERY  quiet…..unlike his father “NIMBY Neil” , who blocked little 150ft wind turbines on Mynydd Maen, Bedwellty, in his constituency ,with an excellent logical speech  back in the Nineties!! 

 In my opinion, crucial, job-creating, Welsh tourism should come FIRST in Wales , and all these gigantic scenery-destroying Welsh wind farms ,supplying England, should be scrapped ! Put them in England, where the electricity is actually used!!

Yours faithfully,

L J Jenkins,

Clyn-yr-ynys,

Gwbert,

Cardigan.

SA431PR