November 20, 2007
England
England
Permission has been granted for the building of the first onshore wind farm in Suffolk.
The six-turbine farm at Parham Airfield was backed by Suffolk Coastal District Council after a modification to the original plans was dropped.
Your Energy secured permission after agreeing to alter plans to extend the turbines’ blade size.
Campaign group Nowap (No Wind farm at Parham) said the vast majority of local residents remain opposed to the farm.
In October 2005, plans for the wind farm – with turbines standing at almost 100m tall on 310-acres of land – was given backing by the council.
But in July 2007 Your Energy was given permission to build turbines with longer blades, which Nowap campaigners forced the authority to re-examine.
‘Little national benefit’
The dropping of the modifications meant the wind farm could be given the go-ahead by the council under the original plans.
Opponents said the turbines would be too close to homes and would have an enormous impact on the Suffolk landscape.
John Constable, of Nowap, told BBC News: “The group has over 500 members and it’s a lot of people in every single village – the major villages around it of Parham, Great Glemham and Marlesford – and the people who live within a kilometre-and-a-half [from the site].
“The vast majority of those people are against this proposal. They are very large structures which yield very little national benefit.”
Best location
The wind farm is designed to generate enough energy to power 3,000 homes, developer Your Energy said.
The company plans to liaise with the local community to “minimise disruption”.
James Townsend, senior development manager for Your Energy, said: “It will be just fantastic to have clean, renewable electricity produced from Suffolk’s first wind farm next year, which will contribute to the regions renewable energy targets for 2010.
“There are very few places wind farms can go in Suffolk – this is a unique site and the best place for a wind farm in the district.”
20 November 2007
URL to article: https://www.wind-watch.org/news/2007/11/20/onshore-wind-farm-given-go-ahead/