Good turnout at engagement event featuring Lorna Brazell

There was a good turnout for the AME hosted event at Penpont on 4th March featuring a talk by Lorna Brazell from the Cambrian Mountains Society entitled ‘The invisible costs of renewable power: bringing nature resilience into the calculation’.

Lorna argued for a more nuanced and informed debate about Wales’ energy needs and questioned the viability and effectiveness of huge turbines to meet those needs. She presented illustrations of the visual impact of the many 220 metre turbines proposed for the uplands of rural mid Wales, effectively turning our countryside into industrial power complexes.

She discussed the negative impact of further fragmentation of natural habitats on biodiversity, especially in the context that the UK and Wales are lagging other countries significantly on our native species conservancy.

Describing the environmental affects of the contruction of new access routes, digging and filling the huge foundations with concrete, spoil distribution, disturbance of the ground hydrology and the air disturbance caused by the turbines, Lorna raised many areas of concern that need to be addressed and resolved by the planning authorities, the developers and politicians before these upland power stations are allowed to be constructed.

After Lorna’s talk the over sixty people present enjoyed good conversations during the questions and answers session. Those who came will have left with a greater understanding that the discussion around the way we address climate change and net zero goals must be done with weight being given to protection of the natural world, in line of course with other goals concerning the environment set by the UK and Welsh government.

A raffle and other donations raised £230 which was split between AME and the Cambrian Mountains Society.

We want to publicly thank Lorna, our hosts at Penpont, Veronica for organising the event, Andrew for taking the photos, Carla for chairing the meeting and to all the others those who helped make this event such a success.

The slides used by Lorna are available here.

Mark Collins
AME Spokesperson