Development of National Significance – Success | Dr Michael Bowes & Megan Thomas KC
October 22, 2025
The Welsh Ministers have upheld Inspector Melissa Hall’s recommendation and refused RWE Renewables UK’s Development of National Significance (DNS) application (Ref: DNS/3279787) for a 240-hectare (593 acre) solar farm, battery storage units and associated infrastructure near Llanwern, Underwood, and Bishton.
Dr Michael Bowes opposed the Application, representing Stop CYP and worked in partnership with other interested groups.
Megan Thomas KC was instrumental in providing both initial advice and written submissions for StopCYP.
Despite its clear contribution to national decarbonisation objectives, the Inspector and Welsh Ministers concluded that the considerable harm to biodiversity, landscape character, and heritage assets outweighed the benefits.
The central basis for refusal was ecological. Part of the site lies within the Gwent Levels, Redwick and Llandevenny Site of Special Scientific Interest (SSSI), an area designated for its biodiversity, hydrological importance, and ecosystem resilience. The Inspector found that the development failed to comply with the “step-wise approach” in Planning Policy Wales (PPW), which prioritises avoiding harm to designated ecological sites before considering mitigation. Paragraph 6.4.25 of PPW was decisive: development in an SSSI that is not necessary for its management “must be avoided as a matter of principle.” The Inspector held that RWE’s proposal did not qualify as development necessary for the management of the SSSI. While the applicant claimed the scheme would secure ecological improvements through ditch restoration and habitat enhancement, these were found to be incidental rather than integral to the scheme’s purpose. The proposal also failed to demonstrate “wholly exceptional circumstances” under paragraph 6.4.27, with unresolved concerns about the Shrill Carder Bee and breeding Lapwing.
In addition, the Inspector found that the solar farm would cause significant adverse effects on the Gwent Levels’ rural landscape, harming the visual amenity of residents and public rights of way users, and diminishing the settings of the Grade II Church of St Mary, Llanwern, and the Grade II Church of St Cadwaladr, Bishton. Mitigation measures were insufficient to offset these impacts. The development was therefore found contrary to Future Wales Policies 9, 17 and 18, which seek to protect biodiversity, heritage, and landscape character while supporting renewable energy. Furthermore, the applicant had not demonstrated that alternative, less environmentally sensitive sites had been fully explored. In concluding that the proposal failed to meet both national and local planning policy requirements, the Inspector stated that renewable energy ambitions cannot override the strict protections afforded to SSSIs.
The Craig Y Perthi decision stands as a clear restatement that, under PPW 6.4.25, development within an SSSI is only permissible when it is intrinsically necessary for the site’s conservation management, a test that this scheme failed to meet.
