A Powys councillor has accused the council leader of attempting to influence this week’s full council vote on a motion concerning defence safeguarding at the Sennybridge Training Area (SENTA).

Reform UK group leader Iain McIntosh raised the complaint after Cllr Jake Berriman emailed all members urging them not to support the motion, which seeks to reintegrate the 2017 Statement of Common Ground (SoCG) between Powys County Council and the Ministry of Defence into the Local Development Plan (LDP).

The motion, due to be debated tomorrow (Thursday), calls for a 10-kilometre safeguarding zone around SENTA to be reinstated. It cites concerns that large-scale wind energy proposals, including Garreg Fawr and Parc Ynni Banc y Celyn, fall within the zone, potentially affecting military exercises.

Cllr McIntosh said he was “extremely disappointed” by the leader’s intervention and “deeply concerned” that councillors were being influenced before the motion was presented. He also highlighted Cllr Berriman’s previous suggestion that the council could take a five per cent stake in energy projects, raising “very real questions” about a potential conflict of interest.

But Cllr Berriman said the motion “completely misunderstands and misrepresents” the council’s agreement with the MOD, adding the ministry is “content with the status quo.”

Cllr McIntosh said the zone’s omission from the adopted LDP leaves “a significant safeguarding gap” and that new wind energy proposals fall within the area. He wrote to councillors expressing his “disappointment” that the leader had emailed members urging them not to support the motion, calling the action an attempt to influence the vote “before it has even been presented.”

Cllr Berriman defended his actions, saying his email aimed to provide technical context and clarity.

He explained that the Statement of Common Ground was drawn up during the preparation of the previous Local Development Plan to address MOD concerns about draft wind energy search areas. The MOD’s main aim was to protect a 10-kilometre buffer around SENTA, while other buffers were proposed at the time for areas such as the national park and sites important for wildlife.

Cllr Berriman said Powys County Council later withdrew the draft search areas, as they added nothing to existing planning protections. He stressed that the MOD is satisfied with policy SP7 in the adopted LDP, which already safeguards military operations in the area.

“The MOD are not seeking council moves this motion. They are content with the status quo and the protection afforded to their interests by policy SP7,” he said.

He added that the council has commissioned a new Renewable Energy Assessment to examine potential opportunities for wind energy beyond pre-assessed areas, and an extension is being undertaken to consider the impact of taller turbines now proposed in Powys. He said the replacement LDP must be evidence-based and defensible under independent scrutiny.

Cllr Berriman has urged Cllr McIntosh to withdraw the motion, but said that if the debate goes ahead, councillors “will at least have the benefit of a better technical understanding of the status of the LDP and how policy SP7 works to protect the defence interests of the MOD and of local communities.”