George Washington's ancestral home could become wind farm site

The countryside surrounding the ancestral home of George Washington could soon become home to a wind farm if a planning application is approved.

Land between Sulgrave and Weston could soon be the site of a nine-turbine wind farm, with one of the 280ft (85m) turbines sited about half a mile from Sulgrave Manor, where ancestors of the first American president lived.

No application has yet been submitted but company Enertrag has applied for information from South Northamptonshire Council, which will consider the application, about the issues which it will need to address prior to plans being drawn up.

A meeting will be held in Sulgrave later this month for parishioners to make their views on the proposals known.

Sulgrave Parish Council chairman, Graham Roberts, said: “We are still trying to assess the impact of what is being proposed.

“It is an attractive part of the country but we do not want to be seen as NIMBYs.

“We are expecting to be consulted by Enertrag. I would not like to say we are against renewable energy but Sulgrave is a beautiful area of the country and the village is in a conservation area.”

News of the latest wind farm project comes days after campaign group Stop the Spin, claimed the county was fast becoming “windfarm alley” because of the proliferation of turbines down the spine of the county.

David Linley, project manager for Enertrag UK, said: “This wind farm could be capable of generating power for 20,000 homes. When electricity prices go up, lights go out and the UK needs to meet its carbon trading requirements, I think the importance of wind farms will hit home.”

The so-called Weston plans on the company’s website say it sites all turbines a minimum of 700m from any residential property, which “is not a requirement of any planning legislation but a figure that Enertrag have found reasonable to counteract any issues with noise or shadow flicker”.

Each turbine would have a maximum output of 2MW and power would be fed into the national grid via underground cables. Blades on the turbines will be 295ft (90m).

The meeting takes place at Sulgrave Manor on Wednesday, July 15, at 7.30pm.

Northampton Chronicle and Echo ^[1]

6 July 2009

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[1] Northampton Chronicle and Echo: http://www.northamptonchron.co.uk/news/Ancestral-home-could-become-wind.5430433.jp

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