THE Friends of the Gwent Levels is calling for a Welsh Government minister to reject a planning application for a solar power station in St Brides Wentlooge, which occupies 150 hectares of the Gwent Levels.

Joint chairs of the Friends of Gwent Levels, Dr Catherine Linstrum and Dr Diana Callaghan, wrote to climate change minister Julie James to raise issues in opposition to the plan, citing the nature and biodiversity emergency, how the wetland is the wrong place for a solar power station, and the legacy of the M4.

They said as environmentalists they are fully supportive of Wales’ ambitions for renewable energy but oppose to developments which compromise landscape and nature.

Friends Of the Gwent Levels is a grassroots organisation campaigning for protection and enhancement of the area for future generations.

“Tackling climate change cannot be at the expense of all other considerations. As you know, Wales is one of the most nature-depleted countries in the world," they say in the letter.

"To site vast renewable energy installations on fragile ecosystems when there are still brownfield sites and acres of bare industrial roof available seems wrong.”

The Living Levels Landscape Partnership is a programme which aims to promote and reconnect people to the heritage, wildlife and wild beauty of the historic landscape of the Gwent Levels.

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The Programme seeks to conserve and restore the important natural heritage features of the area, to develop a far greater appreciation of the value of the landscape, and finally to inspire people to learn about and participate in the heritage of the Gwent Levels.

A £2.5 million grant from the National Lottery Heritage Fund has helped attract further funding to deliver a £4m scheme over the next three-and-a-half years.

Drs Linstrum and Callaghan close the letter by stating that if Wales is to lead the world and the UK to changing climate change, it needs to look at its own commitment to the cause:

"If the environment is indeed at the heart of Welsh Government decision-making, rather than the afterthought which it might have been historically and which it continues to be in Westminster, then one of the most richly biodiverse regions of Wales must be protected from any development that threatens this biodiversity.

“We recognise that the Inspector’s conclusions will be based on planning policy and cannot take into account the bigger picture of Wales as a whole.

"But as a minister, you are uniquely placed to be able to shape the way forward for Wales, its landscape and nature, as it tackles the twin climate and biodiversity crises.

“Decisions like this - the siting of major renewables - is a test for Wales’ commitment to give a lead to the rest of the UK and to show that we put the restoration of nature at the heart of the climate change emergency.”