January 21, 2008
England
England
A developer behind plans for a £4 million wind farm in rural Suffolk claims the turbines can enhance a boring countryside.
Mid Suffolk District Council has given the go-ahead for a 70-metre high wind monitoring mast at Wyverstone, near Stowmarket. The structure could lead to an application for two turbines in the village powering 2,200 properties.
Developer Andy Hilton, managing director of Norfolk-based Wind Power Renewables, was project manager for the construction of Britain’s two largest offshore wind farms to date – Scroby Sands, off Yarmouth, and the Barrow project off the north west coast.
Mr Hilton said: “I love the countryside but I do think they enhance boring countryside. They are dynamic and we see as them as sculpture in the landscape.”
His firm has now submitted a draft report to the council detailing the scope of the work they anticipate undertaking before trying to gain permission. It will look at issues including the visual impact on the landscape, noise, health issues and the site itself.
But the proposals have sparked local opposition with more than 500 people joining the Stop Wyverstone Wind farm Action Group (SWWAG).
Dr Neil Macey, a Stowmarket GP and chairman of SWWAG, said: “If this, or the nearby Mickfield wind farm, is approved this place will become fair game and the place will be swarming with developers trying to bag fields and sites.”
21 January 2008
URL to article: https://www.wind-watch.org/news/2008/01/21/wind-farms-can-enhance-countryside/