October 18, 2007
England
England
A reduction in the number of turbines from 10 to seven has been formally announced by Your Energy, the developers behind the Moorsyde wind farm proposal.
The reduction follows the recommendations of a recent report by environmental consultants Scott-Wilson, who were commissioned by Berwick Borough Council to assess the combined impact of the three wind farm proposals currently being considered in the area to the south and west of Berwick. The seven remaining turbines will stay in their original proposed locations.
Richard Mardon, Your Energy managing director, said: “The report recommended that we remove the three most western turbines from the proposal. We have done this, and now Moorsyde Wind Farm would consist of a neat cluster of seven turbines.”
Mr Mardon added: “We take the recommendations of this report very seriously – the council are considering a number of wind farm applications and we acknowledge their efforts in trying to work out the best way these applications can be accommodated into the local environment.
“Good design is an iterative process and when we were the first wind farm in the area a larger layout was more appropriate but now with other schemes being proposed we acknowledge it is important to do what we can to make them work together.
“The remaining seven turbines at Moorsyde will still generate a significant amount of electricity – the equivalent of up to 8,700 households – that’s 75% of houses in the borough of Berwick.”
The amendment to the scheme was initially made public in a Berwick Advertiser planning advert on September 13 but Moorsyde Action Group (MAG) have criticised Your Energy for the month-long wait to expand on its plans.
“YEL have waited until well after the official 21 day consultation period, which ended on October 12, before issuing a press release drawing attention to their amended scheme,” said a MAG spokesman. “This is typical of the company’s idea of public consultation and is echoed by the fact that they had not updated the figures or photomontages on their website as of October 16, the date of their press release.”
MAG is demanding that the amendment is significant enough to warrant a full reassessment of the proposal and that a new application should be submitted.
“MAG, and our advisors, have already written to the Borough Council to point out that the material differences between the latest amendment and both the original application and subsequent amendments should, according to planning guidance and law, mean that they should require YEL to submit a new planning application which addresses all the environmental, visual and cumulative impacts that still remain outstanding, three years after their original scheme was announced,” said the spokesman.
The revised layout and photomontages can be viewed at Berwick Borough Council offices or on the company’s website www.your-energy.co.uk.
By Ian Smith
17 October 2007
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Moorsyde Wind Farm Action Group (MAG): moorsydeactiongroup.org.uk
URL to article: https://www.wind-watch.org/news/2007/10/18/fewer-wind-turbines-planned-for-moorsyde/