In an interview for Go Green, John Lloyd Jones, of the Countryside Council for Wales, said: "The biggest problem we have in assessing wind farm applications is that the wind farm application and the grid connection application are two separate processes, and sometimes the grid connection can be more visually intrusive than the wind farm itself. "If you're asking what I would do to improve the planning process I would roll the wind farm and the grid connection into one application process."

The chairman of one of Wales' leading environmental organisations has called for the rationalisation of the planning process so that wind farm applications can be considered alongside the grid connections that need to accompany them.

In an interview for Go Green, John Lloyd Jones, of the Countryside Council for Wales, said: "The biggest problem we have in assessing wind farm applications is that the wind farm application and the grid connection application are two separate processes, and sometimes the grid connection can be more visually intrusive than the wind farm itself.

"If you're asking what I would do to improve the planning process I would roll the wind farm and the grid connection into one application process."

Mr Jones said the growing interest in offshore wind farms may take some of the pressure off onshore wind farms.

He added that the areas of Wales that have been marked out for potential wind farm sites under the Welsh Assembly Government's Tan 8 planning guidance are outside the National Parks and Areas of Outstanding Natural Beauty that make up almost 30% of the Welsh countryside.

In the interview, which appears in the Go Green supplement published with next Monday's Western Mail, Mr Jones also predicts problems for the Assembly Government in implementing the new Glastir farm support system due to replace the current five agri-environment schemes in 2012.

The current schemes support environmentally friendly farming practices.

Mr Jones said: "We don't know enough details. The one thing we do know is that Tir Gofal three or four years ago was said to be the best agri-environment scheme in Europe. Now that's going to be subsumed in Glastir.

"Glastir will have an entry level scheme, probably a lower level than Tir Gofal, then you'll have an upper level.

"We don't know enough details about the upper level, but [it] will be targeted at certain areas."

He added: "Only some [farms] will be able to go into the upper level, that in itself will present political problems."

But Mr Jones added the Welsh Assembly Government "do understand the importance of agriculture, and of the countryside to the Welsh economy.

"They handled the CAP (the European Union's Common Agricultural Policy) reform much better than in England, the payment system was infinitely better."

The Countryside Council for Wales is a statutory adviser to the Government on "sustaining natural beauty, wildlife and the opportunity for outdoor enjoyment in Wales and its inshore waters."

It distributes more than £5m in grant aid each year on projects including "action for the natural environment" and "connecting people with nature."

Web link: http://www.walesonline.co.uk/2009/07/15/rethink-ur...