On behalf of the Chairperson and Committee of IMAGE I am writing to express our deep concern at the plans to develop a large gas-fired power station on the edge of Wrexham Industrial Estate, by Wrexham Power Limited.
IMAGE is a group of local people who are striving to improve the local environment and as such we are concerned with all aspects of the local area, not just those that affect directly Marford and Gresford. Development on the Wrexham Industrial Estate will affect communities from all around Wrexham, in different ways, even if not directly.
1. We object to the Power Station development because:
a. As Wales already produces more power than it uses we feel that these schemes should now be restrained to the areas which need the electricity.
b. There are better locations for such a development in the UK, such as the many recently closed nuclear, coal and oil plants which already have pylons in place.
c. As there is no proposal for a sub-station, the suggestion that the Industrial Estate will benefit is obviously misleading.
d. It is unlikely that the power station will provide anything other than basic jobs for local people as these jobs are highly specialised and people will be drawn from across the UK as appropriate.
e. The power station would be an intrusive eyesore for many communities around the Industrial Estate and would affect the approaches into Wrexham aesthetically.
f. Pollution from the plant could affect not only the Industrial Estate but also local villages including Holt and Farndon.
g. This is not a sustainable or low-carbon proposal when it could and should be. There will be an issue with the storage of carbon waste eventually ? either in Wrexham or out to sea?
2. We object to the proposed line of the pylons because:
a. The line of the pylons will go through many areas which are the gateway into Wrexham and which currently provide beautiful views which are a positive tourist attraction.
b. The area is one of the designated wards in the World Heritage Site Tourism project. It is unlikely that pylons come under this heading.
c. Development and installation of the pylons will affect wildlife habitats such as swans, owls, breeding goshawks, newts, badgers, otters and bats.
d. We are concerned about the health implications associated with pylons? electro-magnetic fields
e. We are concerned that what are currently unspoilt rural villages could have their house prices (never high at any time, compared to many other parts of the country) devalued and could make sale of homes and land difficult.
f. We are concerned at the noise pollution from the cables, a well-known effect of such high-powered pylon lines.
g. The project breaks many of the Holford Rules which give guidance about pylon routes. Along the proposed route are special and historic landscape areas and several listed buildings.
Overall, we are concerned that the Welsh Assembly Government?s One Wales Policy is being disregarded with regard to the Wellbeing of Local People.
We would like our objections taken into account with regard to this planning application and look forward to receiving an acknowledgement of receipt from your office

Thank you for your e-mail dated 6 July 2013 in regard to the above project. Your e-mail is useful for us to monitor emerging issues in response to a pre-application proposal. As you may be aware, however, The Planning Inspectorate can accept this letter for information purposes only at this stage.
The proposed Wrexham Energy Centre is currently at the pre-application stage and is expected to be submitted to the Planning Inspectorate in late 2013. I therefore encourage you to continue to contact the developer directly at this stage of the process as this is the best time to influence a project. I am aware that, to date the applicant has carried out informal consultation on this project.
At the pre-application stage of the process, the developer is required to carry out extensive statutory consultation (under s42, 44 and 47 of the Planning Act 2008) on the proposals before submitting their application to the Planning Inspectorate. This involves providing information about the proposal to various statutory and non-statutory bodies and the wider community, and to have regard to questions and suggestions made in order to influence and inform the application ultimately submitted. The length of time taken to prepare and consult on the project will vary depending upon its scale and complexity.
Once the application has been formally submitted to the Planning Inspectorate a period of 28 days is given to decide whether to ?accept? the application to proceed to Examination. Part of this assessment will consider whether the applicant has adequately complied with their duty to consult and have taken account of any relevant responses from persons they are required to consult under s42, 44 and 47 of the Planning Act 2008.
I have provided copies of the following Planning Inspectorate Advice Notes which may be of interest to you. These include further information on the planning process.
Advice note 8.1: How the process works
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Advice note 8.2: Responding to the developer?s pre-application consultation
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