July 13, 2007
England
England
A proposal to site four large wind turbines near an Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty (AONB) has sparked a wave of opposition from residents.
People living near Lesnewth and Davidstow in North Cornwall have vowed to fight a wind farm on the northern edge of Bodmin Moor.
The proposal comes from the power company Ecotricity and would be its first step into Cornwall. The company said it has a policy of only installing turbines where they will make “good neighbours” but has not received the response it had hoped.
Alan Goodenough from Otterham said: “This proposal is going to destroy the local landscape. We already have wind turbines around here and enough is enough. They are a very ineffective way of producing power, for the wind cannot be relied upon.
“It seems that there are far better ways of producing green energy. The potential of tidal power is enormous with the big tidal races that we have around the British coast and we should also be looking at hydro electric power, which is very successful in Scotland.”
Celia Langley, who lives at Lesnewth, said: “I am against the turbines because of my love of the landscape of North Cornwall. The turbines desecrate the landscape and fulfil no useful purpose.
“I would be in favour of the turbines if I thought they were the answer but they’re not. Not a single power station can be closed down because of all these wind farms. They are simply a sop to the green lobby.”
However, she added that she could understand the decision of any farmer to agreeing to site the turbines on their land. ”
Around 30 people visited an exhibition last week in Otterham Village Hall to demonstrate Ecotricity’s outline proposals. The exhibition has moved to the library at Camelford.
A spokesman for Ecotricity said that the company had not yet made its planning application to North Cornwall District Council but once it did so, a 16-week public consultation period would follow.
He added: “If the council feels that these turbines would affect the AONB then it will refuse planning permission. But we don’t just pick an empty field and think, ‘let’s put a turbine there’. There are numerous constraints on where they can be placed.”
12 July 2007
URL to article: https://www.wind-watch.org/news/2007/07/13/wind-farm-plan-angers-residents-2/