There have been increasing numbers of recent planning applications to Councils of Anglesey and Gwynedd and the Snowdonia National Park Authority for single or multiple wind turbines that are not large enough to be considered a ‘wind farm’ but together or individually could potentially have a significant impact on views from residential properties. There is also a planned new transmission line linking the proposed nuclear plant at Wylfa on the north coast of Anglesey to an existing substation at Pentir near Llanberis on the mainland in Gwynedd. This will introduce a number of 40–50 m high pylons into the landscape with likely effects on visual amenity.Whilst GLVIA3 provides guidance on assessing the visual impacts of such developments, there is no nationally recognised method for using identified visual impacts to establish minimum separation distances between wind turbines or pylons and residential properties. Current Welsh Government advice is that each case should be judged independently and on its own merits.
