July 21, 2007
England
England
Residents of a Cornish village are celebrating a decision by a Government inspector to hold a public hearing on a wind farm application.
Villagers of the small North Cornwall village of Morwenstow have spent the past two and a half years fighting an application by West Coast Energy to site three wind turbines in the parish.
The application was for turbines measuring 265ft high, but residents believe that they would interfere with wildlife in the area, particularly two rare species of bats which forage across the piece of land where the turbines would be sited.
North Cornwall District Council’s planners turned down the application but West Coast Energy lodged an appeal against the decision. And although local residents feared that the appeal would be dealt with by written representation, the planning inspector has announced that it will be held in public.
John Moxley, chairman of Morwenstow Against Turbines, said: “This is the correct decision as it will give the community the right to give evidence and to question West Coast Energy in open forum.
“We are not against renewable energy as such but this would be very close to an Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty. Guidelines are such that wind farm clusters should be seven kilometres apart and this development would be far closer than that to the turbines at Bradworthy.
A date for the hearing has yet to be set.
20 July 2007
URL to article: https://www.wind-watch.org/news/2007/07/21/public-hearing-over-wind-farm/