Will the Minister confirm whether developers proposing the erection of new electricity lines will engage in a community consultation and proceed in a manner which reflects widespread community feedback?
The Green GEN Towy-Usk Project proposed grid connection from the Nant Mithil Energy Park to a proposed new substation near Carmarthen is currently described on Planning and Environment Decisions Wales’s Development of National Significance site as at a pre-application stage. Welsh Ministers are the decision makers on Developments of National Significance and consequently I am unable to comment on this project while it is in the planning system. To do so could leave any future decision open to challenge on the grounds of pre-determination.
It is the role of the planning system to ensure that decisions on all proposals are made openly and transparently, in the context of a clear plan-led policy framework. National planning policy sets out the Welsh Government’s preferred position on new power lines that, where possible, they should be laid underground. Developments of National Significance proposals are subject to statutory consultation and publicity requirements so that the public and other stakeholders can make formal representations at the appropriate time. We have been clear that planning authorities should plan positively for grid infrastructure.