Welshpool to Cardiff pylons protesters set off
Thursday 19th May 2011, 3:48PM BST.
Four walkers were today joined by dozens of anti-pylon campaigners waving placards in Welshpool as they set off on a protest march to Cardiff.
More than 50 people turned out to cheer on the walkers as they left the town centre at 9am. The quartet will spend the next five days marching to the Welsh capital to protest against plans which could see hundreds of pylons being built across Shropshire and Mid Wales.
Nick Larder, from Manafon, near Welshpool, who is leading the march, said he was incredibly pleased by the support shown.
“I just can’t believe how many people have turned out to support us on our march and we hope we keep attracting support along the way,” he said.
“We intend to walk about 25 miles a day and reach Cardiff by Tuesday morning so we can join up with hundreds of other campaigners from Shropshire and Mid Wales who will be arriving by coach.”
Mr Larder is being joined by Ifan Davies and Richard Jones, both from Welshpool, and Oili Hedman, from Mochdre, near Newtown.
Supporter Michael Brennan, from Mochdre, said he and his dog Pip, would be accompanying the walkers for the first 10 miles.
“We all feel really strongly about the proposals. We don’t want hundreds of pyl-ons and a substation to be built because it will completely destroy the whole area and change the way of life,” he said.
John Hughes, of Trefnanney, near Meifod, who was playing his guitar as the walker set off from Welshpool, said his wife Jayne, would be walking to Newtown, to pledge her support.
“This is a major issue and I’m deeply moved by what has happened this morning,” he said.
Campaigners against the plans are also planning to carry a coffin covered by a map of Wales outside the Welsh Assembly next week.
The coffin is just one of a number of protests planned for outside the Senedd in Cardiff Bay on Tuesday. More than 25 coaches are taking people to the protest.
National Grid is looking to find a route for a 400,000 volt cable, by using 46 metre high pylons or by routing them underground. Plans also involve building a substation at Abermule, near Newtown and Cefn Coch, near Llanfair Caereinion.
By Anwen Evans
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Too bad that the welsh assembly have no devolved powers to do anything about this. the decision will be made in London. And as the UK govt want to build MORE wind farms, then this is all just one big waste of time.
National grid have not ruled out underground cables either. I favor underground cables and we do have to invest in renewable energies. We can not continue to source fossil fuel for our energy needs from unstable countries. Already a 15% increase in our household bills this year alone to cover the rising costs of importing fuels.
Enjoy your walk, but there are many of us that do not support your cause.
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What Bull Sam.99% of people are behind the fab 4 walkers.I take my hat off to them.About time you got off your butt & helped the cause.People like you make me so angry!
Rock on Nick Larder & the team.Brilliant !
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they are NIMBYS
period
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Agree Sam, I dont support the cause either.
We cant continue to bury our heads in the sand and face the future with OLD technologies ie Nuclear,Coal etc.
The longer Nuclear stations are left to run the more waste there will be to keep forever as you cannot get rid of it!! The Germans tried to store it under ground now they are having to retrive it, search for – asse nuclear waste – on google.
What a con also to call nuclear power, carbon zero, the energy consumed mining,transporting, decommissioning and the never ending work in storing the waste.
The most beautiful thing with wind energy is what you see is what you get,it does not have a venomous bite.
We should exalt the technical achievement of the engineers making the Turbines to produce power from a FREE source that will NEVER run out.
Better have a Pylon/Turbine on your view than pollution under your feet from a nuclear disaster, after all the farmers in North Wales still cannot sell their lambs because they are radio active from the grass that they eat! contaminated courtesy of CHERNOBYL.
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Yes, let’s invest in renewables, but let’s use our resources carefully – why waste thousands of tons of steel and concrete? It’s crazy to build these turbines where 30 miles of pylons and a large hub need constructing. Which will add to those already high bills you mention. Not forgetting the huge amount of carbon emitted in construction.
If the turbines were built on any of the hundreds of windy hills within reach of the existing grid (or offshore) none of this would be necessary! National grid confirm that excluding Lands End this is as far from the grid as possible – literally anywhere else would make more sense!
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wind farms pay back the energy needed to build them in 6 months
nuclear plants need far more concrete and result in far more co2 emissions
visit yes 2 wind dot com
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Well said, some reality at last!
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I don’t think anyone thinks renewables will cut energy bills. What they will do is generate quite a bit of income for a select few.
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I think I read some where “we should no covet another man’s goods”
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Sam, isn’t it about time you changed the record.
Do you have a windfarm developer offering you thousands of pounds per year to put turbines on your land by any chance?
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If Sam has,I think that is his business “you shall not desire another man’s goods”
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What a pointless waste of time!
When will these protestors realise that WAG are powerless to do anything about this issue, especially as the objections are emotional as opposed to factual.
This is ‘nimbyism’ at its worst. Join the real world!
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Excuse me but in what way is my above objection to this scheme “emotional as opposed to factual”? If there were space I would include some maths on the carbon released constructing the grid extension.
This is a waste of resources, energy and carbon. The huge carbon footprint of the grid extension will eviscerate the contribution of the turbines. Build the wind farm closer to the grid and maximise the benefit.
There is not a worse place in England or Wales to build this farm, as nowhere else would require such a large grid extension!
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It is most definitely NOT a waste of time, if it increases the public awareness of this travesty to be committed against the very poeple whom live here.(referendum ? NOT A CHANCE) Nor is it “nimbyism” when it equates to a grave misuse of EU subsidy (payable by us !!!!) to something that would never, ever otherwise happen.
Get real and do the research this project in total, is complete lunacy.
Give up on this NIMBYISM garbage please, we would all want afterall 400,000 volt dual circuit pylons running over our villages and schools wouldn’t we, maybe us NIMBISTS are missing the obvious value added benefits to our properties, amenity value and our Childrens health !!!!!
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@ Mr Perks
I assume that either:
(a) The computer from which you sent your comment is powered by a pedal generator or other device not connected to the National Grid, or
(b) That you are indeed a NIMBY (and hypocrite) who is perfectly happy to enjoy the benefits of electric power as long as it only affects “the value-added benefits to property, amenity value and children’s health of others”.
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“AJ This is ‘nimbyism’ at its worst. Join the real world! ”
Rubbish !
Now you join the real world as you call it in your illusion. It is human nature to be a so called Nimbyist especially if your property is made unsaleable, and the children in your schools are given Leukemia or worse. This windfarm business is complete nonsense and can only ever be a sop to renewable delusionists for the purpose of EU subsidy which we will be expected to pay ! Do lots and lots of research and realise how you are being deceived !!
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The point I am making is that if you are going to protest and object to such a development, then the objection has to be focused at the right organisation….which WAG isn’t.
Further more, as a property developer myself i can tell you that the ‘spoiling my view’ and ‘unsaleable property’ arguements have no validity as a sustainable objection as they are based on emotion not fact.
The sensationalist images are nothing more than scaremongering.
Face facts, this is going to happen.
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AJ, have you read my non-emotional objections to this?
As someone who works for/in the energy industry I just can’t believe that someone thought this would be a sensible location for the wind farm(s). If we had run out of locations within reach of the existing grid and were desperate for more onshore wind capacity then I can see how it would be tempting – but as a first choice? It’s like drilling for oil in Antarctica before trying the North Sea!
This is a criminal waste of resources, energy and carbon.
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Here we go with all you negative comments again.We do not need to hear this! Get on board & support us at Cardiff.People power counts!
Yes, WAG does have the power to stop this, not westminster.Get your facts right!
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Fact, it is the Westminster Government which is responsible for this and not WAG. All energy production has a downside. Nuclear energy production has huge subsidies. The downside of this production is that we cannot see its harmful effect. Miners are still paying the price of working underground with long term sickness bringing a cost to our health service. The perceived harm from wind production is purely visible. It doesn’t leave a legacy of waste for future generations nor long term sickness. When a new source of energy is found. The turbines can be taken down.
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Yes, all power generation has a downside, but why do something in the name of carbon reduction which emits such huge amounts of carbon in construction?
Why not site the turbines offshore or on any of the hundreds of windy hills already in reach of the existing grid?
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nimby luddites
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’99% of people are behind the fab 4′ what a load of rubbish.
There are over 12,000 people in Newtown alone. 1 – 2000 people protesting in Cardiff does not represent the whole of Mid Wales. Stop being so selfish and support this clean energy and all the jobs that go with it.
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well said Dave E
I concur
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..and the t-shirts were printed on non-electric presses
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i would love to see these nimbys live without electric for a few days
they would be begging for the turbines then
go to africa for a week and see what life is like with unspoiled landscape and zero development, i reckon they would trade all that for some electric my self
i for one dont really like the look of roads over the welsh hills but some selfish people insist on driving there, i think i will start a protest movement against people driving in the countrysdie because its ugly
makes you think hey ?
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YEAH!!!! We dont want electricty here – say no to lighting, no to heating, no to computing, no to communications, no to dialysis, no to water treatment and pumping, no to hospitals and no to streetlighting
WE dont want electicity here, this is Shropshire, we dont need it, I say – Let those city folk have electric if they want it – we have candles and coal, we dont need to use electric here, its witch craft, I tell you its the devils work
KEEP SHROPSHIRE MEDIEVAL!
Say No to progress, say No to the Future!
Back to Basics, back to the Dark Ages
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What about the effect of all the concrete a pad the size of an olympic swimming pool for each of the 800 + turbines. This concrete will replace the water absorbing peat (peat which we are encouraged to conserve). When it pours with rain and saturates the hills and the peat has been replaced with concrete, what will happen to the water? It will rush down into the valleys flooding the Vyrnwy and Severn Valleys (which already flood badly) much further afield than the immediate areas. No cumulative impact environmental study has even been done! Wake up to the devastation and destruction the wind factories will have on our environment. Not to mention the toxic waste in China where we get the precious metals to make the magnets in each turbine.
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I could be wrong but I think flooding occurs after the land is saturated and will not hold any more water so filling a hole with concrete instead of waterlogged peat will not make any difference at all!
What about the new cattle market in Welshpool with a vast area covered with buildings and Tarmac I did not hear anyone complain about that?
What about the new proposed bypass for Newtown lots of tarmac involved here.
I dont think your argument holds water!
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Before we all give ourselves a collective, “Green”, pat on the back for supporting wind turbines I suggest reading this report on the consequences of mining neodymium (material required to make the generating capacity of turbines):
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/home/moslive/article-1350811/In-China-true-cost-Britains-clean-green-wind-power-experiment-Pollution-disastrous-scale.html
Think on.
Go to this part of China for a week and see what life is like living with the consequences of our idiotic and misjudged love of windmills.
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It also appears that NEODYMINUM is used for many items that we use today where magnets are involved, eg speakers,headphones even in hybrid cars etc,it was first used as a glass colourant in 1927 so hardly a new phenomena. So to blame wind turbines for the mess in China is s-t-r-e-t-c-h-ing it a little. The mess in China is because of the Chinese.
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