May 2, 2007
U.K.

Windfarm objectors are backed by county

County councillors have rejected plans for a £10m wind farm at Hellrigg, near Silloth.

Energy giant Npower wants to build a four-turbine farm at Park Head Farm, as it is also known.

A previous wind farm application on the site was refused two years ago.

The four turbines would stand at 121m-high.

Councillors on the county’s development control committee panel met on Monday in Kendal to discuss the application.

A spokesman for the council said: “The councillors at the meeting decided to take the officers’ recommendation and formally object to the plans.

“There was a strong objection to the plans from the committee.”

More than 600 people objected to the plans when they were first published.

Earlier this year, eighty five people attended a meeting arranged by Holme Low parish council at the Golf Hotel, Silloth, with all but one declaring themselves against the plans.

The Silloth-on-Solway Action Committee, which formed in 2004 to fight the previous application, reformed to fight this action.

Chairman David Montgomerie said the turbines would ruin the look of the area and tourism which Silloth relies on.

Residents are also concerned that the height of the turbines may have been a hazard to aircraft flying over Silloth Airfield.

The RAF station at the airfield closed in 1960, but RAF planes fly over it as part of the UK Low Flying System.

Allerdale council received 652 comments about the application, with only five in support.

Objections commonly refer to landscape visual impact, impact on tourism and impact on wildlife.

The final decision on whether or not the wind farm gets the go-ahead rests with Allerdale Borough Council.

By Pam McClounie

newsandstar.co.uk

2 May 2007


URL to article:  https://www.wind-watch.org/news/2007/05/02/windfarm-objectors-are-backed-by-county/