Anglesey council to mount legal challenge over solar farm plan

Anglesey council has confirmed it will mount a legal challenge against the Welsh government’s decision to allow a solar farm development.

In August, Welsh government energy secretary Rebecca Evans approved the Alaw Môn scheme, which would see solar panels installed over 660 acres (267 hectares) near the island’s Llyn Alaw reservoir.

It has faced opposition from residents worried about the loss of agricultural land and was met with resistance from the authority, which claimed the Welsh government had gone against its own planning guidelines. Council leader Gary Pritchard said the authority was “disappointed and frustrated” by the decision.

The Welsh government has been approached for comment.

Evans previously said “the benefits” outweighed “any harmful effects”.

Benefits included the Welsh government’s target to generate 70% of consumed electricity by renewable means by 2030 to combat the climate emergency, she said at the time.

Pritchard said the plans had caused concerns about food safety in the future due to the loss of agricultural land.

“The council has made its opposition to a number of key aspects of this application from the outset,” he said, adding: “And I’m pleased that concerns raised will now lend themselves to support this legal challenge.”

Anglesey independents group leader, Aled Morris Jones, said the island could not afford to lose farm land.

“This project is akin to drowning an area just like Tryweryn, in this case not with water but with solar panels,” he said.

The Tryweryn valley was flooded in 1965 to provide water for Liverpool.

The solar farm would take about a year to build and would be in operation for about 40 years.