April 4, 2008
England

Wind farm plan for Ventnor

Plans to put wind turbines on Rew Down, Ventnor, have been overwhelmingly backed by town councillors – and similar projects could be launched Islandwide in future.

Ventnor Town Council members pledged their full support on Monday, to the siting of three 30 metre high turbines at Ventnor Golf Club as part of its £1.75m expansion.

The plans were outlined by Ventnor Golf Club manager Stewart Blackmore, who said the turbines would service 600 homes in the Ventnor region, and it was claimed there would be carbon savings of more than 1,000 tonnes a year.

An extraordinary general meeting will be held on April 24, for the club’s 200 members to discuss the proposals.

If it is supported, a planning application will follow. If approved, the turbines could be up and running by this time next year.

Consultant Steve Squires, of Industrial Maintenance Ser-vices, who is leading the project, said although the proposals did not require an environmental impact assessment, one would be undertaken anyway, and he said a teachers’ package would be set up to inform schoolchildren of the work being done.

He added: “We are very keen to use this as a template for other projects on the Island. It was blue-sky thinking at first but not that far away now.
“When you think of turbines you think of Wellow but this is not huge. It is classed as small.”

All councillors were in favour, with Cllr Buster Bartlett adding: “It is a fantastic plan and it will move Ventnor up a grade.”

Remembering the anti-turbine campaign in Wellow, Mr Blackmore said they were prepared for opposition.

“When you say, ‘wind turbine’, people will stand up and say, ‘no, no, no’,” he said.

“But isn’t it crazy that one of the major companies on the Island (Vestas Blades) manufactures turbines, yet there is not one turbine on the Island?”

Ventnor Golf Club, which aims to become one of the first carbon-neutral clubs in the world, was founded in 1892, and there are plans to expand the course to 18-hole county and regional standards, with a 15 luxury four-bed lodges and a new clubhouse.

By Lory Little

Isle of Wight County Press

4 April 2008


URL to article:  https://www.wind-watch.org/news/2008/04/04/wind-farm-plan-for-ventnor/