June 2, 2007
U.K.
U.K.
Plans for a wind farm near Balsham and West Wratting are likely to be rejected next week.
Renewable Energy Systems hope to build 13 wind turbines at Wadlow Farm, but planners at South Cambridgeshire District Council have recommended the scheme be refused.
The council’s planning committee meets on June 6.
Balsham, West Wratting, Carlton, Brinkley and Little Wilbraham parish councils are among objectors to the plans, along with Cambridge Airport and the Stop Wadlow Wind Farm campaign group. There were also 183 letters of objection from residents, saying the scheme would damage the landscape, cause noise pollution, affect protected species and was not the best solution for energy generation.
But there were also 100 letters in support or expressing no objection arguing that alternative energy sources need to be found, and wind power can make a contribution.
In a report to councillors, David Rush, development control quality manager, said the decision came down to a balance between support for renewable energy and the harm a wind farm would do to the landscape.
He said: “I do not consider the economic, climatic or ecological benefits accruing from the scheme outweigh the substantial harm caused by the scale of this proposal.”
The recommendation is no surprise for bosses at Renewable Energy Systems, who said of the seven possible sites they had identified in the area for a wind farm that Wadlow was the most suitable.
Annette Deveson, project manager, said: “South Cambridgeshire District Council have the opportunity to show some leadership on climate change issues, and we hope the planning committee will grant consent to our proposal.
“However, if the committee refuses our application, we are confident the site is a good one and we will, reluctantly, be forced to appeal. There is plenty of local support for this proposal, and I sincerely hope that the local authority will put the importance of clean energy sources like this over some claims that it will ‘spoil the view’.”
1 June 2007
URL to article: https://www.wind-watch.org/news/2007/06/02/proposal-for-wind-farm-faces-probable-rejection/