Since time immemorial the Preseli hills have nurtured visual, spiritual and financial rewards to locals and visitors alike.

Now, following news that a planning appeal has been lodged against a 51-metre-high ‘financial trading’ tower that was refused by the Pembrokeshire Coast National Park in October 2022, concern is mounting that the Preseli’s magnitude will be severely undermined for evermore.

If consent is granted for the privately owned site at Pantmaenog Woods in Rosebush, developers 'Wholesailer' will erect a 167-foot)microwave tower that will extend to approximately ten meters in width.

Calculations predict that on a clear day, the tower will be visible from Swansea.

“This is not just an area of outstanding natural beauty but an extremely important spiritual site,” commented campaigner Peter Ainsworth.

“The emotional connection that the Preseli mountains have and their psychological effect is considerable. But sadly a tower of this unusually large size will have a considerable impact that will undermine this extremely important part of Pembrokeshire.

“If a company wanted to erect a mast of this magnitude amongst the Egyptian pyramids, the matter would raise concerns globally. And the same thing applies to an area like we have here in the Preselis.”

And there are fears that if consent is granted, the tower will set a precedent for similar developments in the Preselis.

The telecommunications tower, which will support nine transmission dishes and six mobile coverage antennas,, will primarily be used to link data centres in London and Wexford in Southern Ireland, mostly related to financial trading.

The project is being developed by Dutch data network firm Wholesailor, who have confirmed that the galvanised steel lattice tower would reach a height of 430m (1,1410ft) above sea level on the hill above Rosebush.

It would include six mobile coverage antennas, which experts Digis said in a supporting document would increase capacity for future local networks and ‘resolve existing coverage constraints experienced today on all 3G and 4G networks".

“This will make millions of pounds for the company involved yet the community doesn’t stand to benefit anything,” concluded Peter Ainsworth.

“It will pull financial data from the city of London and transfer it to southern Ireland, which will take jobs and tax revenue from the UK. This amounts to digital financial arbitrage.

“If a wind tower was erected on the site, even thought it wouldn’t be particularly aesthetically pleasing, it would generate a payment back to the local community.

“But although this proposed tower would be worth many millions to the developer through its financial trade, they’ve made no offer to make a financial payment back to the community.”

The application has prompted widespread concern not just from residents in the immediate area surrounding Rosebush, but from all corners of Pembrokeshire and beyond.

Last October, Pembrokeshire Coast National Park Authority refused the application as it was contrary to several local and national policies. The Authority also stressed that the proposed mast “would have an unacceptably adverse impact on the visual amenities and landscape character of the national park”.

After that decision, campaigners said that they were “absolutely delighted” that the national park authority had taken “a firm and swift stance” on the application.

But on September 6, the National Park’s development management committee was told that an appeal had been lodged with Planning and Environment Decisions Wales (PEDW).

The timescale for the appeal process remains, as yet, unknown.