North Norfolk District Council recommends refusal of controversial Bodham wind turbine  

Credit:  By Alex Hurrell, Reporter | Eastern Daily Press | www.edp24.co.uk 17 August 2012 ~~

A controversial plan for a wind turbine in a north Norfolk village is set to be thrown out next week because of the structure’s impact on surroundings including historic Baconsthorpe Castle.

North Norfolk District Council officers are recommending refusal of a plan for a turbine, measuring 86.5m to its blade-tip height, on land at Pond Farm, Bodham.

In a report to next Thursday’s development committee officers say the benefits – electricity and cash for community causes – would not outweigh the “identified harm to the wider landscape and a number of heritage assets.”

The application has generated a hurricane of protest. NNDC received 1,826 representations, of which 1,456 were against and 368 in favour.

Opponents feared for the visual and sound impact of a turbine on the environment, which was compared by one correspondent to a 22-storey building.

They also questioned the efficiency of turbines, argued that they belonged off-shore and said approval would set a damaging precedent.

One person said: “To build a turbine at Bodham would be as contemptible an assault on our national heritage as taking a Stanley knife to a publicly-owned painting by John Constable.”

Parish and town councils at Aylmerton, Baconsthorpe, Beckham, Brinton, Holt, Kelling, Plumstead, Sheringham and Stibbard also objected to the application. Bodham Parish Council was evenly split on the plan, submitted by the Mack-family-run firm Genatec.

Thursday’s meeting, at NNDC’s Holt Road headquarters in Cromer, begins at 9.30am.