LLANDYFAELOG is to become a “pylon city” under plans by Green Gen Cymru and the National Grid, according to Charlie Evans, Welsh Conservative candidate for Llanelli in the General Election.

Green Gen Cymru, a sister company of Bute Energy, is erecting 132kV overhead pylon lines as part of its Towy-Teifi and Towy-Usk projects across mid and west Wales, which is aiming to increase electricity grid capacity to power the proposed Nant Mithil onshore wind energy park in Powys. A new 400kV electricity substation is to be constructed in Llandyfaelog to meet this need.

Green Gen Cymru’s latest consultation came to Llandyfaelog Village Hall on Thursday 11th April.

Green Gen Cymru also revealed to Charlie at the consultation that National Grid are looking to construct a third additional pylon line connecting to the new substation. The new substation will be built to the east of the A484, off Upland Arms.

Charlie Evans said, “These plans are going to have a devastating impact on residents in Llandyfaelog. There is already a significant pylon line running over the Upland Arms at the moment. The Welsh Labour Government, with its extreme climate policies, are letting big energy companies ride roughshod over Llandyfaelog and Carmarthenshire.

“The cumulative impact of three new additional pylon lines is going to seriously impact residents’ house prices as well as drastically increase noise pollution. And local residents’ energy bills aren’t going to come down as a result. What’s in it for Llandyfaelog?

“Labour want to turn Llanelli into a city, and now they want to turn Llandyfaelog, a beautiful small village, into a pylon city.”

Charlie said that Llandyfaelog needs cable ploughing, instead of the pylons.

“I recognise that we need to increase grid capacity. We need to get to energy independence. But we don’t need all these new pylons in Llandyfaelog. ATP, a company based in Carmarthenshire, demonstrated last week that cable ploughing can be used to deliver the energy we need, without completely destroying the countryside.

And Charlie said residents in Carmarthenshire shouldn’t let Plaid Cymru off the hook.

“Plaid Cymru are propping up the Labour Government in Cardiff. They’ve signed up to the same policies as Labour. And the Plaid Cymru-led Carmarthenshire Council are removing the Special Landscape Areas from its planning framework. Whilst Plaid’s politicians in Carmarthenshire pretend to be against them, their actions say something very different.”

Green Gen Cymru’s latest consultation on the Towy-Usk project is open until Wednesday 8th May.

A DISTRICT Judge has described how a Pembroke man sent a ‘disgusting, appalling and grossly offensive’ message to his sister via a Facebook message.

The man, who cannot be named for legal reasons, sent a message to his sister on January 18, asking her if she was alone.

“He sent her a photo of himself with no top on, and the words, ‘What’s your reaction?’” Crown Prosecutor Abigail Jackson told Haverfordwest magistrates this week.

Ms Jackson then went on to quote the subsequent message which the 38-year-old sent to his sister.

“I bet you’d like a long hard cock shoved deep inside you,” he told her via the Facebook messenger system.

“This wasn’t an appropriate message,” said Ms Jackson, “so the sister blocked him.”

Ms Jackson then read a victim impact statement from the sister.

“I don’t know how to put this into words,” she said.

“This is something I didn’t expect to receive from my own brother. It made me feel disgusted and has put a huge strain on our family.

“It concerns me that he can send me these kinds of messages. What can he send to other people?”

The defendant pleaded guilty to a charge of sending an offensive, indecent, obscene and menacing message to his sister when he appeared before magistrates via a video link from Swansea prison.

He was sentenced to 16 weeks in custody suspended for 18 months.

A restraining order was imposed preventing him from having any contact with his sister and from entering her address. He was ordered to pay a £154 court surcharge and £85 costs.

“This was a grossly offensive message which was both disgusting and appalling,” commented the District Judge Mark Laytn when imposing sentence.

A NEAR 70-foot-high 4G telecommunications tower scheme in north Pembrokeshire has been unconditionally backed by county planners.

Applicant Cornerstone sought what – in planning terms – is called prior approval for the installation of a 21-metre lattice tower supporting three antennas and associated works on land at Castle Farm Villa, Llanreithan, Hayscastle.

A report for planners says the radio base station “would allow a shared rural network in this rural area of Hayscastle for two of the main operators, to provide 4G connection, which would provide a reliable and fast communications services; to facilitate significantly improved connectivity for residents, businesses and visitors to locality.”

The application was supported by local community council Brawdy.

Cornerstone, in a supporting statement, says: “To keep up with growing demand from mobile phone users we need to upgrade existing base stations or build new base stations. An upgrade can be done in a number of ways, often by redeveloping the site to enable an increase in the number of technologies, or increasing the number or height of the antennas. However, even after these upgrades, in some busy areas the demand for services can still exceed the capability of the local base stations.”

It adds: “We recognise that the growth in mobile communication has led, in some cases, to public concern about perceived health effects of mobile technology, in particular about siting masts close to local communities.

“Quite naturally, the public seeks reassurance that masts are not in any way harmful or dangerous.   We are committed to providing the latest independent peer-reviewed research findings, information, advice and guidance from national and international agencies on radiofrequency (RF) electromagnetic fields.

“Cornerstone ensure that our radio base stations are designed and built so that the public are not exposed to radio frequency fields above the guidelines set by the International Commission on Non-Ionizing Radiation Protection (ICNIRP).  In fact, radio base stations operate at low power and emit levels of radiofrequency fields many times lower than the ICNIRP general public guidelines.”

An officer report says a site visit was carried out to assess the impact of the proposed development, considering that the siting and design of the mast and associated structures would be acceptable.

“As such, the prior approval of the local planning authority is not required,” the report concluded.

Recent plans by Cornerstone for a 20-metre-high, timber-clad telecoms tower on land opposite the National Trust car park at Trehilyn West, Trefasser, near Goodwick, were turned down by Pembrokeshire Coast National Park planners.