November 6, 2007
England

Exhibition for wind farm public opinion

AN EXHIBITION will be held in Weston on Friday to arouse public opinion over a proposal to erect a small wind farm in the village.

Developers John and Paul Cherry, of Darnalls Hall Farm, want to construct three 120-metre-high wind turbines on Pond Place, a field in Hatch Lane, half-a-mile from the Baldock bypass.

Each turbine would be capable of generating up to 2,000,000 watts of electricity per hour – enough from the three to power around 3,000 homes a year.

The Cherrys will be holding a public exhibition at Weston Village Hall, to enable residents to see plans for the wind farm, raise any concerns, ask questions and see evidence of a noise survey which was carried out.

The developers withdrew the first planning application in December last year to carry out more research including a full environmental impact assessment, but they will be resubmitting a second application to North Hertfordshire District Council by Christmas.

John Cherry said: “The nation has plans for 20 per cent renewable energy by 2020 but we’re well short of that target especially in Hertfordshire. So we need to do what we can.

“There aren’t that many places in Hertfordshire where wind turbines can go because you can’t put them near houses and they need to be on top of a hill so this is a perfect site which we want to make use of.

“The community will also benefit from the wind farm because we’re promising to put a proportion of any income we get from it into a community pot. So not only will there be financial gain for people but it will also enable them to do there bit to stop global warming.”

So far Mr Cherry has received mixed reactions from residents but at the exhibition he is hoping to “persuade” people that the project is a good idea.

He said: “Where they have gone up in the past, there seems to be an anti-reaction at first because people aren’t sure about the affect it’s going to have on the community, but once they have been installed the reaction tends to be that people grow to love them.

“I think they will add to the landscape and we have chosen to erect three because they will make an attractive cluster.”

“We have pylons all over the place that are a lot more intrusive the way they march all over the countryside.”

* The exhibition will be held from 5-8pm.

The Comet

6 November 2007


URL to article:  https://www.wind-watch.org/news/2007/11/06/exhibition-for-wind-farm-public-opinion/