January 3, 2007
U.K.

Rejection puts wind in protesters' sails

Opponents of a proposed wind farm are to step up their campaign after a Government-appointed planning inspector rejected plans for another one near Boxworth.

The Stop Wadlow Wind Farm Group (SWWF) is opposed to plans by Renewable Energy Systems (RES) to put 13 wind turbines, each 120m high, on land at Wadlow Farm, between Balsham and West Wratting.

And its members have taken heart from the decision earlier last month by planning inspector Andrew Pykett to reject an appeal by Cambridge Wind Farm Ltd against South Cambridgeshire District Council’s refusal of permission for 15 100-metre high wind turbines between Boxworth and Conington.

Robert Barlow, a SWWF member, said: “It is very significant that the Boxworth decision hinged on the fact that those vast turbines would ‘overwhelm’ the local environment.

“And we believe this to be even more the case at West Wratting, situated as it is in a rare and beautiful area of chalk upland – indeed, the only area of chalk upland in Cambridgeshire.

“We have always said that a wind farm here would itself be environmental vandalism rather than an environment-friendly act, and the Boxworth decision rather supports this proposition.”

The group said the proposals would not be for a few “gently turning” windmills but a “monstrous, industrial-scale power station” with 13 turbines, each taller than Big Ben and visible for miles around.

Opponents of the scheme have submitted several documents to the district council, outlining “omissions, assumptions and flaws” in the planning application submitted by RES.

The parish councils of Balsham, Brinkley, Carlton, Great Wilbraham, Little Wilbraham, West Wratting and Weston Colville all oppose the plans.

SWWF is lobbying MPs, MEPs, district and county councillors and others whose views may influence the final outcome.

RES submitted its plans in May and said they would save more than 67,000 tonnes of CO2 a year and supply enough electricity for more than 16,700 homes for a year.

No date has yet been set for a final decision.

cambridge-news.co.uk


URL to article:  https://www.wind-watch.org/news/2007/01/03/rejection-puts-wind-in-protesters-sails/