April 10, 2008
England

'Blot on the landscape' — Wind farm would have 'disastrous effect on the environment'

A councillor has claimed that proposals for a wind farm would have a “major impact” on the landscape.

Cllr Marguerite Phillips told members of Royston Town Council’s planning committee on Monday evening: “It is simply not in the right place.”

Members had been asked to comment on a scoping report for the proposed wind farm on land at Highfields Farm in Litlington.

The committee has already said plans for the erection of wind testing mast on the site should be rejected.

Cllr Phillips was worried about the land being turned into an industrial site as the concrete base for each of the wind turbines would cover “an area the size of an Olympic swimming pool”.

The turbines, she claimed, would generate, too, a high level of noise.

Speaking about the environmental impact she said such a development would be seen from Therfield Heath. “It will have a negative effect which will have a major impact on the landscape.”

Cllr Rod Kennedy described the proposal as being “disastrous on the environment”.

He said that because of a lack of wind speeds the turbines would be only 10 per cent efficient.

“The proposal is an utter waste of time,” he said. “If we take the emotion out of the discussion we still have a proposal which is unsuitable for this site. It’s simply not going to work.”

Cllr Kennedy said from record of wind speeds in the area there were only 32 days of the year when the turbines might reach their maximum output.

“It will be generating almost next to nothing,” he said. “The whole idea is facial.”

Cllr Paul Grimes, however, said that set in the right landscape the wind turbines could appear “majestic”.

“There are certainly some people who think they are quite attractive,” he said.

But Cllr Lindsay Davidson said: “There seems to be no proper purpose for these turbines except to the people who put them up and in meeting some Government directive.”

In summing up the discussion, committee chairman Cllr Bill Prime said the development of a wind farm would be “a blot on the landscape.”

In the planning application for a 60 metre anemometry mast, environment consultants Engena said the submission of the scheme did not “set a precedent for a wind farm”.

It said the mast would be used to assess the available “wind resource” in the area and a planning application for a wind farm in the future would have a complete environmental impact assessment.

This, it said, would involve “a comprehensive technical scoping exercise” with South Cambridgeshire District Council.

Engena’s planning submission said: “The measurement of wind speed and direction over an extended period is a vital part in determining the potential of a prospective wind farm site.