'Fast jets' debate on Sennybridge military zone in Powys

At a Powys County Council meeting on Thursday, March 5, Reform UK group leader Cllr Iain McIntosh will get a second attempt to secure backing for his motion to “reinstate and publish the Statement of Common Ground (SoCG) within the council’s adopted LDP (Local Development Plan)”.

The SoCG between the council and the Ministry of Defence from 2017 refers to a 10-kilometre planning buffer zone around the Sennybridge Training Area.

Cllr McIntosh (Yscir, with Honddu Isaf and Llanddew) said: “SENTA (Sennybridge Training Area) is one of the United Kingdom’s most important and intensively used military training areas, providing a unique environment for joint operations training across the armed forces.”

He pointed out that fast jets and helicopters operate in SENTA.

Cllr McIntosh believes that not including the SoCG in the Local Development Plan (LDP) could pose problems.

Cllr Iain McIntosh - Reform UK who represents the Yscir with Honddu isaf and Llanddew ward. Powys County Council.

He said: “As a result, large-scale wind energy proposals such as Garreg Fawr Energy Park (Bute Energy) and Parc Ynni Banc y Celyn (Wind2) are now being advanced within the 10-kilometre safeguarding zone, raising serious concerns about potential interference with military training, radar and flight safety operations.”

Cllr McIntosh will again urge councillors to “write to the Defence Infrastructure Organisation to reaffirm the council’s recognition of the 10-kilometre safeguarding zone around SENTA, and to invite the MoD to confirm or, if necessary, update the SoCG to reflect current operational and planning circumstances”.

This would, in his view, “ensure that all future planning policy and decisions within this safeguarding zone give full weight to national defence interests and the operational integrity of the training area”.

At the previous discussion in December, Council Leader Cllr Jake Berriman (Liberal Democrat – Llandrindod North), who is also a former planning chief, made a major intervention.

Cllr Berriman said it was “nonsense” to debate the motion as “the whole premise of this motion has no basis in planning law”.

He told councillors that Policy SP7 within the LDP was agreed with the MoD, which protects its interests “fully” and allows it the opportunity to comment on any developments, such as wind farms, that have the potential to harm its operational interests.

He said the SoCG’s purpose was to “inform discussion” with the MoD on the current LDP, and it was “no longer needed” after the council and MoD agreed a way forward.

Councillors on the council’s planning committee asked what extra protection the SoCG would provide “over and above” the LDP.

Others also asked for the debate to be adjourned to allow the MoD to have its say, which was agreed following a vote.