Access
Improvement Plans have been proposed around the windfarm site (Section
3). The primary purpose of these is to improve access to and enjoyment
of the windfarm proposal site for local people. However the proposals
also provide foundations for attracting visitors from further a field,
be they tourists from the Brecon Beacons or school visits from around
Central South Wales. External visitors provide the opportunity for
a positive contribution to the local economy.
This
section outlines the foundations and opportunities for visitors that
are created by the windfarm and improved public access proposals.
4.2
Windfarms as a Visitor Attraction
Windfarms
can and do attract visitors. This can be on the basis of personal
interest or the educational resource that windfarms can be for schools.
A windfarm can be an informal attraction; individuals visiting ad
hoc out of personal interest; or it can be more structured with visitor
centres, educational resources, refreshment facilities, etc..
There
are a number of examples in the UK where visitor/education centres
have been established. Some of these have been successful e.g. The
Ecotech Centre at Swaffham however others were less successful, e.g.
The Gaia Energy Centre, Cornwall.
Visitor
attraction opportunities are encouraged by national planning policy.
TAN8, Planning for Renewable Energy, states
“Developers and local authorities are encouraged to enter into
constructive dialogue over the positive provision for visitors to
wind power projects”
A
research thesis published in May 2001 on behalf of the Welsh Tourist
Board sought to investigate the impact of wind farms on tourism in
Wales. It combined desk-based and fieldwork research including a questionnaire
survey of 905 domestic and foreign visitors from which there was a
14.5% (138) response rate. The findings that came out of the questionnaire
were that most people believe that the contribution of wind farms
to clean energy production outweighs their impact on the landscape.
Almost all visitors questioned (96%) said that they would not be put
off visiting Wales if more wind farms were to be developed and 69.3%
would visit if an Information Centre was built.
4.3
The Potential for a Visitor Attraction at Maerdy Windfarm
Maerdy
windfarm has a number of intrinsic strengths that could make it an
excellent windfarm site to promote as a visitor attraction.
Large
Visitor Population
Maerdy is within the catchment area for visitors to the Brecon Beacons
National Park and therefore has a large population of visitors to
capitalise upon. Maerdy is only 7 km from the southern boundary of
the National Park and 20km from its central peaks. Maerdy is therefore
within an hours drive of most of the Park and hence a practical day
visit for the thousands of visitors to the Park each year.
Maerdy
is also well placed to capitalise on the extensive school population
of South Wales. About an hour away from Cardiff, Newport and Swansea,
it is a viable day trip for a large area. Some other visitor centres
such as Gaia in Cornwall, have had good tourist populations, but suffered
from remoteness from significant school populations.
Maerdy
has strengths in being able to capitalise on both these important
visitor streams.
Excellent
Accessibility
The Maerdy colliery site provides the opportunity for excellent vehicular
access close to the windfarm. Plans provided by RCT to the Developer
include car parking and new road access. If these were implemented
they would provide excellent public access opportunities. The scope
to accommodate significant numbers of public visitors also exists
in the immediate and wider road network.
The
windfarm benefits uniquely from the infrastructure provided by the
adjacent colliery site and the opportunities this provides. Most windfarm
sites do not have such excellent access opportunities.
Visitor
Appeal
The site has several features of appeal to a visitor:
The proposed
new PRoW provides a short route (350m) to get right up close to
a wind turbine. This can be an exhilarating and novel experience.
A 5km circular
walking route through the windfarm and around other local features
is created by connections with the new proposed PRoW.
Information
boards on the windfarm and surrounding natural and human history
will be provided on the windfarm site.
Views north
toward the Brecon Beacons are available from the circular route.
The site can
be visited on the Sustrans Cycle Route and the new windfarm PRoW
provides access from the Colliery site to the Coed Morgannwg Way.
Integration
with other Attractions
A windfarm is a natural complement to a visit to a coal industry heritage
site, particularly for schools demonstrating the historic change in
energy sources. There are coal industry heritage sites such as the
Rhondda Heritage Park in the environs of the windfarm. A windfarm
visitor center would therefore complement exisiting tourist attractions
in the Rhondda and neighbouring areas.
On
a wider scale the windfarm could provide a geographical link halfway
between the visitor attractions of the Brecon Beacons and those of
the Rhondda. Located at the northern boundary of the Rhondda, Maerdy
windfarm could provide a visitor feed from the Brecon Beacons onto
attractions further south in the Rhondda, such as the Rhondda Heritage
Park. These otherwise might be too far away to attract Brecon Beacons
visitors. This effect would be assisted by the lower Rhondda Fach
relief road improvements. Maerdy could become the “Northern
Rhondda Gateway”.
Visitor
Facilities
The Maerdy Colliery site provides good practical opportunities for
construction of formal structured visitor facilities such as education
centres, refreshment facilities, etc. Most windfarm sites are in rural
locations where construction of new buildings and access is difficult.
With the adjacent colliery site there is available land, nearby utilities,
good access and an excellent development opportunity.
Compliment
Existing Plans
The Local Plan has specific policies for informal recreational use
at the Colliery Site, which are endorsed by the colliery site reclamation
plans. It is understood there is uncertainty over the reclamation
plans that have not been progressed for a number of years.
Visitor
facilities are already contained within plans provided by RCT . These
include a visitor centre / workshop / car park / and road access.
The windfarm could further strengthen the recreational objective at
the site and contribute positively to the outline plans seen, if these
were progressed.
Available
Funding
The windfarm proposals include a community fund for Maerdy (Section
2 of this document). It is proposed that the fund be controlled democratically.
A possibile application of part of the fund could be the development
of visitor facilities at the Colliery Site, should that be the communities
wish. A capital element of the fund has been provided for in the fund
structuring to facilitate opportunities such as this.
Other
schemes such as the Gaia Energy centre in Cornwall attracted significant
grant aid.
4.4
Conclusion
The
Maerdy windfarm has specific intrinsic geographical and infrastructure
features that make it a very strong candidate for development as a
visitor attraction.
Discussion on these ideas is welcomed and the windfarm developer is
keen to support visitor development at whatever scale desired, should
this be the consensus of the community and the Council.
