June 27, 2008
Northern Ireland
Northern Ireland
A Strabane Sinn Fein councillor says that the high volume of wind farms within a four mile radius outside Castlederg is destroying the countryside with no environmental benefit to the local community.
Councillor Kieran McGuire, voiced his concerns at Tuesday night’s Strabane District Council meeting on behalf of the Aghyaran residents, claiming they are “blighted” with wind farms owned by private companies in England and Wales.
It is understood that there are already 108 wind turbines within a four mile radius in the outskirts of Castlederg and developers have submitted an application for a further 15 to be constructed in the area.
Colr. McGuire said: “They are blighting the landscape around Aghyaran and it’s a very scenic area, look up and all you can see is clusters of windmills patched around the countryside. I have no objection to wind farms but I can’t understand why so many of them have to be placed within a three or four mile radius.”
He continued: “The interesting thing about it, is that nobody except the wind farm owners will benefit from them. The farmer will receive a fee for his land but that’s it.
He nor any of the local residents are provided with electricity from the wind farms.
“It’s the British companies who benefit, they are making a profit from selling on the energy to NIE,” he claimed.
“The residents want to know why other areas cannot be earmarked so the wind mills are spread out evenly instead of in one dense patch.
I have requested a special meeting so representatives from the wind farm companies and the environmental health officer can clear up whether or not wind farms pose a health risk to the people living beside them.”
The application will be discussed again at the next full district council meeting on July 8th.
27 June 2008
URL to article: https://www.wind-watch.org/news/2008/06/27/wind-farms-destroying-countryside-claims-councillor/