Ulley wind farm D-day
Contentious plans for six 430-feet tall wind turbines near Ulley are expected to be submitted to Rotherham Council next week.
Developers Banks Renewables claim the answer to the borough’s energy targets is blowing in the wind, and has a package of initiatives designed to benefit the surrounding communities.
But Mike Corden, from the windfarm action group, says ‘99.9 per cent’ of Ulley residents strongly oppose the £12m scheme and thousands living nearby have no idea how much it will affect them.
“For them to say most people around here have accepted this is a laughable interpretation,” he said. “There are 17,000 homes in the locality, but they have already said that even if everyone objected to it, they would still press on.”
“This would be six monstrous turbines with the blades flashing, TVs affected and the crippling ‘humming’ noise. It is predominantly a westerly wind around here, so the noise would be a problem for places like Thurcroft, Brampton and Dinnington, even if they don’t realise it yet.”
The Penny Hill site, west of the M1/M18 junction, was picked by Banks because it is more than 500m away from most homes and lies far enough from Robin Hood Airport flight paths.
Rotherham Council’s target for renewable energy is 11 megawatts (MW) by 2010 and 35MW by 2021. Planning permission for three turbines in Harthill was granted a year ago, and the Ulley development mean the borough hits the first target.
Banks — which uses the slogan Development With Care — would set up community funds and help fight ‘fuel poverty’ among local residents.
“This is all just spin, designed to grease the path a bit as they look for planning consent,” said ex-geography teacher Mr Corden, 61.
“The bottom line is that it is an unreasonable proposal that asks to stick six of these vertical factories on green belt land.”
“Looking to the future, I know we need renewable energy and I would gladly pay my taxes for this type of energy in the right area, or offshore.”
“But we have such little green belt land around here, and we’re blighted with motorways, pit tips and old factories.”
Each of the Ulley turbines will be at least 2MW, which Banks say will supply enough energy for a minimum of 6,500 homes, although there is no guarantee this power would be consumed locally.
Banks Renewables Phil Dyke said: “With this scheme, and the one at Loscar, Harthill, Rotherham can justifiably look at some of its neighbours and say: ‘We are moving towards our targets, what are you doing with yours?’”
“We don’t just stick a pin in a map and go for it. We have to look at what are the most suitable areas.”
“Residents will always have concerns, but we have an 87 per cent planning consent success rate.
By Gareth Dennison
3 July 2009
Tags: Wind power, Wind energy
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