Village wind turbine decision due
A decision on whether six wind turbines can built at a rural beauty spot in north Dorset is being made later.
The plans by the firm Ecotricity would see the 394ft (120m) turbines erected in Silton, near Gillingham.
North Dorset District Council’s planning officers have recommended it for approval and a final decision is being made at a meeting on Thursday.
Campaigners against the plans were protesting at Thursday’s meeting. The firm said the project was crucial.
Save Our Silton campaigners said they had already sent nearly 2,000 letters of objection.
About 500 people were outside the meeting waving banners and placards.
Christopher Langham, chairman of Save Our Silton, said: “We are in favour of renewable energy and don’t object to wind farms in the right place.”
‘Spoils character’
But, he added: “The character of this beautiful landscape will be changed and the views from the Cranborne Chase Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty will be spoilt.
“Most importantly, the nearest houses are less than 550m away from the turbines.
“At that distance residents will not only have the turbines looming over them but they will suffer disturbance and risk sleep deprivation as a result of the noise.
“We say that turbines should be sited where it’s windy and other technologies such as bio-gas, bio-mass and bio-oil schemes, which are much less intrusive, should be used in beautiful rural counties like Dorset.”
A spokeswoman for Ecotricity said: “Projects like this are crucial. On the one hand you’ve got climate change, on the other hand Britain’s running out of energy.
“The truth about wind energy today is that properly designed and sited modern windmills don’t cause problems for neighbours.
“With windmills there is really only one residual impact to discuss — the fact that you can see them.
“To some people this is a good thing and to others it is not — it is of course in the eye of the beholder.
“Seeing windmills in our countryside is a small price to pay for energy security and a climate we can live in, a very small price to pay.”
2 July 2009
Tags: Wind power, Wind energy
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