Energy firm in windfarm dispute
An energy company has been accused of ignoring the views of Brodsworth Parish Council over plans to build a nearby wind farm.
Coun Phil Amson has raised the issue ahead of a meeting tomorrow, which could see the scheme for five 125-metre wind turbines at Hampole given the go ahead.
Energy firm npower says they would produce enough renewable electricity to meet the average annual needs of 4,800 to 7,300 homes.
But Coun Amson says he is angry the company has failed to meet with the council to talk about the issue.
He said: “I have been a member of Brodsworth Parish Council for many years. In that time, we have dealt with hundreds of planning applications, all of which I considered were dealt with democratically. This includes the Aldi Development on Barnsley Road, Scawsby and the Quarry reclamation on Green Lane.
“The wind farm development has been something different, we feel that our parish council has been excluded from all consultations by npower and the local authority.
“If this plan is passed without adequate consultation a lot of people who care and spend good time working for their communities have been wasting their time.
“We’ve heard or seen virtually nothing from npower. They have not come to talk to us. We’re not pig headed, we’re just genuine people and they wouldn’t talk to us. We asked for some sort of representation to see us but got nothing.”
Campaigners from the group HALT – Hampole Against Large Turbines – have been fighting the Hampole scheme fighting plans for a wind farm at Hampole were today planning to tell Doncaster councillors it was not just nearby residents who opposed the scheme.
Doncaster Council’s planning committee is due to vote on npower renewables’ planning application for a wind farm on land to the west of the A1, south-east of Hampole, at tomorrow’s meeting at Mansion House.
There are around 880 letters of objection from local residents and a protest petition signed by about 300 people.
More than 500 letters of support for the development have also been submitted and pro-wind power pressure group Alliance4Wind collected names during a day campaigning outside Mansion House.
Joanna Thompson, senior renewables developer at RWE npower renewables. said: “The planning application for Hampole Wind Farm was submitted following extensive assessments as to the site’s suitability for a wind farm, as well as consultation with local people and parish councils.”
“It is now up to Doncaster Council to make a decision about this important project and I hope the planning committee will take this opportunity to make a positive step.”
By Staff Copy
The Star
23 November 2009
Tags: Wind power, Wind energy
Some possibly related stories:
The copyright of this article is owned by the author or publisher indicated. Its availability here constitutes a "fair use" as provided for in section 107 of the U.S. Copyright Law as well as in similar "fair dealing" exceptions of the copyright laws of other nations, as part of National Wind Watch's effort to advance understanding of the environmental, social, scientific, and economic issues of large-scale wind power development. For more information, click here.
