Friends of the Earth Cymru have just issued a report (http://www.foe.co.uk/cymru/ english/news/wind_myths.html) intending to explode the myths surrounding wind farms. One of these relates to the impact of wind farms on local property prices, saying: “Myth: Wind farms harm property prices”.
A report by the Royal Institute of Chartered Surveyors and the Oxford Brookes University (May 2007) found no clear relationship between property prices and the proximity of wind farms.
Whatever this report says, the experience of those who have found themselves living close to wind farms is completely different. I quote from a letter from estate agents Munton and Russell, who were asked to market a house in Lincolnshire. The owners wanted to sell because they could not tolerate the sound from nearby turbines.
“While I understand the difficulty you are placed in with the problems caused by the wind turbines, until such problems have been resolved I am not able to place a current market value on the property as I do not believe any prospective purchaser would want to inhabit the property, or indeed in the current climate, whether any mortgage lender would be prepared to lend on the property.”
It would be interesting to see if any individual among those who claim wind farms have no impact on property prices has bought a house near a wind farm or has lived in close proximity to one? Here in Wales, we have a limit for turbines from dwellings of only 500 metres. Most of Europe has a requirement of 2 km.
Elizabeth Knox
Little Mountain
Pendine
28 May 2008
URL to article: https://www.wind-watch.org/news/2008/05/28/turbines-do-hit-prices/