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The potential impact of a proposed wind farm above the Aber Valley is set to be discussed by councillors in Rhondda Cynon Taf (RCT) next week.

The 14-turbine Twyn Hywel Energy Park development, which could be built on land between Senghenydd, Nelson and Cilfynydd, straddles the boundary between Caerphilly County Borough and RCT.

Of the 14 turbines, 11 would be in Caerphilly and three in RCT – each with a maximum height of 200 metres.

Cardiff-based Bute Energy is behind the plans, which could generate enough energy to power the equivalent of 81,000 households a year.

RCT’s planning committee will be asked to approve a local impact report, which will be submitted to Planning and Environment Decisions Wales (Pedw) before it makes a decision on what is a “development of national significance” (DNS).

As the installed generating capacity of the proposed development would exceed 10MW, it qualifies as a DNS and the application will be decided by Welsh ministers rather than the council, with the process administered by Pedw.

It is a formal requirement of the process that the council submits a local Impact Report to Pedw to help the appointed inspector in the consideration of the proposals.

The local impact report that RCT officers are recommending members offers no objection and says that while the part of the site located within RCT is located outside of any of Welsh Government’s pre-assessed areas for large-scale wind energy development, Future Wales 2040 (the national development plan for Wales) allows for such development outside of these areas, providing the scheme complies with relevant planning policy.

The report said the proposed development will have a negative impact on the landscape in visual terms and on the outlook of the nearest residents, but that this is a largely subjective issue.

It said that in all other key aspects, it is considered that appropriate mitigation can be applied so that there is no more than a neutral impact or that negative impacts that remain are reduced to a minimum.

The report said there are other issues that might require further consideration, such as the issues raised by the RCT council ecologist in terms of impact on certain bird species.

The local impact report’s conclusions say other issues can be addressed through the application of planning conditions and through Section 106 agreement.