The overall impact of a windfarm near Llangurig will be “neutral”, according to Powys planners.

At a meeting of Powys County Council’s Planning Committee on Monday, 12 October, councillors will be asked to approve the draft Local Impact Report (LIR) for the proposal to build six wind turbines at Banc Du.

Bute Energy is behind the proposal, and the site consists of hilltop moorland and pockets of woodland around a kilometre to the north of Llangurig.

Five of the turbines will have a maximum height of 200 metres and one a maximum height of 180 metres.

The planning application is being dealt with by Welsh Government Planning Inspectors at PEDW (Planning and Environment Decision Wales) as it is classed as a Development of National Significance (DNS).

This means that Powys Council is a consultee and not a decision maker.

The LIR is the authority’s chance to feed into the consultation process and explains what Powys planners think planning inspectors should consider when deciding the application.

In the LIR, the council does not give a formal opinion on the proposal but outlines whether aspects of the development would be either positive, neutral or negative.

While planners say the impact will be neutral, the report shows that there are 13 negative outcomes for the county if the development goes ahead, with only two positives noted.

The positives associated with the proposal would be the generation of renewable energy and that it would help the Welsh Government with net zero targets.

The many negatives include the impact it would have on a number of bird species including the Red Kite, Hen Harrier and Curlew, as well as bats.

The assessment on highway safety also comes up as a negative and the report said that “insufficient information” has been provided to fully address the concerns identified by the Highway Authority.

In his report, senior planning officer Richard Edwards said: “The council’s independent review identifies several matters requiring clarification by the applicant.

“The overall impact of the development is considered to be neutral.”

Bute Energy claims that the turbines would generate around 40MW of clean, green energy – enough to power approximately 38,000 homes every year.

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They also say that the Community Benefit Fund from the park would deliver £300,000 to support groups, projects and places in the community.