As someone who has serious concerns about the close proximity to my cottage of the proposed Catamount/Force 9 Energy wind farm at Barmoor, I find the opinions of Wildwood (“Have Your Say”, Voice of the North, May 21) ill-mannered and condescending.
He/she states that: “Wind farms are not noisy. This is just another myth used by nimbys.” If turbines are not noisy, why has the turbine nearest my home had to be, to quote the environmental statement, “modelled with modified operations” to achieve “acceptable” noise levels at my home and one other property?
Is he/she suggesting that Jane and Julian Davis of Deeping St Nicholas in Lincolnshire are lying about their situation (“The noise that drives us mad”: The Journal, April 28)? Why would anyone choose to pay out pounds 600 per month to get a decent night’s sleep in a rented property if they could sleep undisturbed in their own home?
The nearest turbine to my cottage would be less than 750m away, closer even than those causing problems to the Davis family. What guarantee do I have that this turbine and others closer than 900m would not cause sleepless nights?
I too have visited wind farms. My assessment of the noise situation of those in the Lammermuir Hills differs from that of Wildwood.
At 740m there was a constant whoosh and thud of the rotating blades, a high pitched buzzing like a swarm of angry bees, an irregular grinding and a loud perpetual squeaking, presumably due to lack of lubrication. Wildwood, it seems, would find this constant noise acceptable but I suspect that he/she will never have to face the reality of turbines right outside their home.
I respectfully suggest that Wildwood reads “Noise radiation from wind turbines installed near homes: Effects on health” by Frey and Hadden before using the derogatory term nimby to describe people like me who have valid concerns about the close proximity of proposed wind turbines to their homes.
A FERGUSON, Bowsden, Northumberland
Source: The Journal – Newcastle-upon-Tyne
23 May 2007
URL to article: https://www.wind-watch.org/news/2007/05/23/turbines-can-cause-sleepless-nights/