Image Source: Bridgend County Borough Council

This site is best viewed in landscape mode on smartphones.

Oggy Bloggy Ogwr doesn’t receive any subsidy and isn’t funded by the BBC. If you like what I’m doing here and think this work is important in keeping locals informed of what’s happening in Bridgend, consider a donation. One-off or monthly; as little or as much as you want. Click the links below, or full details are available here.

Bridgend Council’s Planning Committee has agreed to give Stormy Down-based energy company, Cenin Renewables, more time to build a solar farm (Ty’n y Waun) to the west of Heol-y-Cyw (pdf).

As it’s considered a Development of National Significance, original planning permission was granted by Welsh Government planning inspectors in October 2024.

However, since permission was granted, the UK Government changed the rules on how renewables connect to the wider grid.

The original permission gave Cenin 5 years to complete the project, but it’s now likely that they won’t receive confirmation of their grid connection until after this date (possibly beyond 2030) – prompting the request to extend the permitted time to 10 years.

Cllr. Tim Thomas (Ind, St. Bride’s Minor & Ynysawdre) spoke at the meeting, calling for the committee to reject the proposal. He told the committee the company is seeking the extension so it ties in with the proposed Mynydd y Gaer wind farm – which would be premature and based on speculation.

Committee member, Cllr. Simon Griffiths (Lab, Brackla East & Coychurch), noted that this was a “difficult one”, but he agreed with Cllr. Thomas that the two proposals shouldn’t be linked in that way. However, as this has been deemed “strategically important”, the council doesn’t have much power over this regardless.

Cllr. Mark John (Ind, St. Bride’s Minor & Ynysawdre) criticised the developers for not consulting with the two affected community councils: St. Bride’s Minor and Coychurch Higher.

There was a recorded vote: