July 28, 2008
England

Residents fight ‘blot on the landscape’ wind farm

Protesters say plans to put up eight giant wind turbines on the edge of the Lincolnshire Wolds will destroy an otherwise unblemished area of countryside.

Renewable energy company Enertrag UK wants to create a wind farm close to Baumber, between Wragby and Horncastle.

But villagers are fighting the proposals, saying the 125m tall turbines are too big and would dominate the skyline of one of the county’s most unspoilt locations.

They could even be visible from Lincoln.

Stark red “no wind farm” posters can be seen along the A158 and throughout the villages of Minting, Baumber and Wispington.

Melvin Grosvenor, chairman of the Baumber Wind Farm Action Group, an organisation set up in February, said the proposed site for the wind farm, on the edge of the Lincolnshire Wolds, was totally unsuitable.

“When you’re in Baumber you’ve got an open view all the way across to Lincoln Cathedral that’s not obscured at all,” he said.

“The turbines will fall in line with the skyline. Bearing in mind they’re 410ft tall, that’s a massive impact.”

Gainsborough MP Edward Leigh, whose constituency includes Minting, has backed the campaign – saying they can take heart from the successful fight to stop a wind farm at Laughton.

Enertrag UK says each of the eight turbines planned for Baumber would generate up to three megawatts of renewable electricity which would feed into the National Grid through underground cables.

It is expected to submit a planning application to East Lindsey District Council later this year – having just finished a study of background noise levels around the proposed site.

Lincolnshire Echo

28 July 2008


URL to article:  https://www.wind-watch.org/news/2008/07/28/residents-fight-blot-on-the-landscape-wind-farm/