October 18, 2006
Australia
Australia
Wellington Shire Council has rejected an application for a new wind farm at Devon North near Yarram.
The application was to build nine 120 metre high wind towers capable of generating about 18 megawatts of electricity.
Earlier this year, vandals cut down a wind monitoring tower worth about $40,000.
The Mayor of the Wellington Shire, Malcolm Hole, says the community in the Yarram area is overwhelmingly opposed to the project.
“The lack of consultation from the proponents, from the people who live in that place, and so everybody pointed out the fact that the noise was going to be a problem, that’s what we had to take into consideration as far as planning was going,” he said.
The proponents of the wind farm project, Synergy Wind, have expressed disappointment at the council’s decision.
A spokesman for the company, Christian Spitzner, says he approached the council two years ago to gauge their reaction to the company’s plans.
He says the mayor at that time, Geoff Amos from Yarram, and the council told the company they supported the wind farm.
He says the company has spent about $300,000 on the planning process.
“If council is not happy with us looking at Wellington Shire for proposing a wind farm then we just go away and look somewhere else and I’m quite surprised that they changed their mind in the meantime, and especially after the town planning people recommended to the council to grant permission,” he said.
URL to article: https://www.wind-watch.org/news/2006/10/18/wellington-council-says-no-to-devon-north-wind-farm/