January 6, 2007
England
England
Copeland councillor Norman Clarkson has called for action which could lead to a wind turbine at Lowca being dismantled and removed from its cliff-top windfarm.
And the owners of the turbine have been given just 14 days to respond to a council letter.
After The Whitehaven News highlighted the admission by power company, Eon (Powergen Renewables) that a shortage of spare parts meant one of its seven turbines had not been operating since January 2007 Coun Clarkson asked the planning department to approach the company.
Coun Clarkson said: “The windfarm at Lowca was passed by the planning inspector who placed conditions on the development. I am concerned that one of the conditions which states: ‘If any turbine ceases to be operational for a period of six months it shall be dismantled and removed from the site, and that part of the site restored.’
Coun Clarkson said: “It is very important that conditions placed on any form of development are adhered to and a very good explanation is required if the condition isn’t carried out. Therefore I have asked the Copeland planning department to write to the developers for an explanation and then we can decide what action to take.”
As a consequence Copeland senior planning officer, Heather Morrison, has written to Powergen Renewables giving then 14 days to reply and asking them to draw up a timescale for the removal of the wind turbine from the site at Lowca.
By David Siddall
6 December 2007
URL to article: https://www.wind-watch.org/news/2007/01/06/councillor-calls-for-removal-of-lowca-windmill/