The Assembly Government has recently examined the standing orders which govern how it conducts business and it has decided to abolish planning decision committees (PDC).The future method of making planning decisions will be decided by the new government after the Assembly election.

A great deal of money was spent on the 2003 public inquiry into the proposal for a giant wind farm on Scarweather Sands off Porthcawl. Very sensibly, the Assembly government Inspector who conducted the inquiry concluded that this was an inappropriate place for a group of gigantic industrial structures, and was not justified by the small amount of "wobbly" electricity they would generate.

The Assembly appointed a PDC of four members who, by a majority of three to one, overturned the original decision, thus allowing United Utilities (UU) freedom to proceed. However, in 2005 UU sold the venture to E.On UK Renewables, which now has the project on hold, probably until further government finance is forthcoming.

This decision was the product of a flawed procedure in which the chance make-up of a tiny PDC could influence the outcome of a complex issue on which professional power engineers are not in full agreement.

As with so many government decisions, I imagine it is inconceivable that a U-turn could be performed to right this manifestly undemocratic wrong.