ThWART begins campaign against new turbines plan
A plan to build three wind turbines in an area of outstanding natural beauty will seriously damage one of only three 360-degree panoramic Ordnance Survey viewpoints on the Island, according to campaign group ThWART (The Wight Against Rural Turbines).
In a statement issued this week, it said the nearest turbine would be sited just 400 metres from centre of the viewpoint, and even closer to the Worsley Trail bridleway. It also highlighted, if agreed, the turbines would be situated on Limerstone Down, not Cheverton.
Steve Allen, development manager at renewable energy provider Cornwall Light and Power (CLP), said the landscape and the visual effect of the ‘wind cluster’ would form a very important part of their environmental impact assessment, submitted as part of a planning application.
“Ultimately a lot of people actually like the look of the wind turbines once they are up and operating,” he said.
But ThWART supporter Julian Bagnall, a local resident and owner of the Island Fish Farm, said: “Until now, we had no idea they were proposing to build such massive turbines on Limerstone Down because we have not been properly consulted.
“This project will have a massive impact on our lives and utterly destroy the beautiful landscape which visitors come here to enjoy.
“Why on earth are they planning this industrial monstrosity in an AONB near our Heritage Coast? This is the wrong project in the wrong place and I am appalled it is being supported by an Island business.”
Mr Allen said the four public exhibitions gave people the chance to air their views.
“This is early days in our consultation programme and we are keen to engage with the Island as a whole,” he added.
Plan ‘too good to turn away’
THE man at the forefront of plans to build three 125-metre wind turbines on Limerstone Down urged the Island not to let a great opportunity pass.
Speaking at the first of a series of public exhibitions this week, Steve Allen, development manager at Cornwall Light and Power (CLP), said people should consider the greater benefits in terms of green electricity, Island manufacturing, future jobs and research and development.
He said: “The one thing that really makes me think this is the right thing to do, once the turbines come to the end of their operational life, they can be removed from the landscape and leave no long-term legacy of pollution or hazardous waste. For the 25 to 30 years, they are consistently producing green electricity with no carbon dioxide emissions.”
Planning permission for a wind farm with three smaller turbines already has permission but CLP said the much bigger turbines it wants will produce ten times as much clean power. A joint application with Vestas is being planned, the Newport company using the site for research and development.
At the exhibition at Shorwell Village Hall, village resident Shane Sothcott said: “I think people will get use to them and learn to look at it in a positive light.”
Whitwell resident, Oswald Hoskyns, who teaches countryside skills, agreed: “I can see no reason not to have these things in the countryside. I have been around Europe and they are all over the place and are very beautiful.”
But Michael Langley, of Limerstone, said: “Why don’t they put them somewhere where nobody lives? They seem to want to put them near populated areas.”
If allowed, Gertrude Masters, of Shorwell, feared the development could open the door to more turbines while Philip Marshall, also of Shorwell, accepted a need for renewable energy but described the proposed wind farm as an eyesore.
By Martin Neville
5 September 2008
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