Welsh Government Direction puts temporary reprieve for one of Wales’ most iconic waterfalls

A Holding Direction has been issued by the Welsh Government, preventing Eryri National Park Authority from granting planning permission for the Afon Cynfal hydro-electric scheme until further review 

The Eryri National Park Authority met on January and was due to determine a planning application that that would have allowed, at times, nearly 70% of the water diverted out of the waterfall into a plastic pipe. The Planning Officer was recommending that the application be approved. That process has now been temporarily halted as the Welsh Government considers whether to call in the application.  

The Nation.cymru website reported that a spokesperson for the authority said: “Following a decision by the Eryri National Park Authority’s Planning and Access Committee to postpone consideration on a planning application for the development of a hydro-electric scheme on the Afon Cynfal this morning, the Authority has received a Holding Direction by the Welsh Government’s Planning Directorate. The Holding Direction has been made to enable further consideration as to whether or not the application should be referred to the Welsh Government’s Ministers for their determination. This means that the Authority is prevented from granting planning permission until it has received further instruction by the Welsh Government.” 

Earlier in the day, members of the public opposed to the plan had packed the meeting at the National Park Officer in Penrhyndeudraeth, to the extent that some no more were allowed into the room. Their concern was, and is, that the scheme will significantly affect the appearance and thunderous sound of the waterfall, as well as fundamentally changing the environmental conditions. The gorge is part of a Site of Special Scientific Interest (SSSI), designated because of the vulnerable species that can be found there, including rare damp-loving plants. It can be accessed on foot by an ancient trackway, as part of the Snowdonia Slate Trail and first impressions don’t disappoint.  

After the Welsh Senedd declared a Nature Emergency in 2021, the Welsh Government strengthened Planning Policy in Wales2 to make clear that there must be no development in Sites of Special Scientific Interest (SSSIs) except in ‘wholly exceptional circumstances’. It also spelt out that this would only be acceptable where there is an agreed position in the development plan indicating this. However, the National Park has interpreted this to mean that, if the development is for renewable energy, then that makes it ‘wholly exceptional’ and it can therefore go ahead. This could set a damaging precedent for SSSIs across Wales.  

The plan has run into huge opposition both locally and more widely across the country. At least 1,136 people have formally objected to the plan. That is a huge number of people to object to a single planning application3.  

A coalition of five environmental groups is working together to oppose this plan: North Wales Wildlife Trust, Save our Rivers, Cymdeithas Eryri Snowdonia Society, Buglife, Noth Wales Rivers Trust, Plantlife and the British Mountaineering Council. Together, these groups are writing to the Welsh Government, calling for plan to be ‘called in’, so it can be determined by Welsh Ministers in line with policy.  

Jane Barbrook, Vice Chair of Cymdeithas Eryri says: “There seems to be a shortfall here. You can protect an ancient tree or an historic house, but you don’t seem to be able to protect a waterfall, in terms of its visible attributes and its sound.” 

Rory Francis from Cymdeithas Eryri Snowdonia Society says: “We are hugely grateful to the Welsh Government for intervening and we hope that they will ultimately call in the application and ensure that the plan is properly scrutinised at a Public Inquiry. But there is no guarantee this will happen. We intend to use the next few weeks to keep raising this issue, to try to make sure that this waterfalls and its incredible gorge remains one of the special features of Eryri.  

 “The huge irony here is that an iconic waterfall and one of Wales’ prime wildlife sites is being threatened for a really rather trivial amount of renewable energy. The capacity of the scheme is just 600kW. That means you would need no less than 12 schemes like this to generate as much power as a single modern onshore wind turbine, like those proposed at Y Bryn, between Maesteg and Port Talbot, each of which would be 7.2MW. Yes, we need to move to net zero, but in doing so, we should follow planning guidelines and protect our most precious wildlife sites and landscapes.”  

1. The Officer’s Report to the Planning and Access Committee is available online here: https://eryri.gov.wales/wp-content/uploads/2026/01/Planning-and-Access-Committee-21.01.26-website.pdf  
2. Planning Policy Wales is available online here: https://www.gov.wales/sites/default/files/publications/2024-07/planning-policy-wales-edition-12.pdf The relevant paragraphs are 6.4.26 and 6.4.27 
3. The Officer’s report actually gives the figure of 453, however, the coalition against the plan is aware that 1,135 people formally objected through their campaign website. They have passed these names and addresses and the full text of the actual letters they sent to the National Park Authority, which has agreed to count these as objections. We do not know the cause of this failure. It may involve an inbox filling up or a spam filter.  The coalition was able to pass this list of names and addresses to the National Park Authority, under GDPR rules, as all the individuals concerned had already consented to these going to the National Park.