July 29, 2008
England
England
Cornwall’s biggest wind farm will be built at Davidstow if council planners give it the go-ahead.
Energy company Community Windpower this week revealed plans for a 20-turbine wind farm project on a skyline location within Davidstow Woods clearings and surrounding farmland.
If successful, the company’s application would see 20 of the 126m high turbines, with 92.5m diameter rotor blades, dominating the North Cornwall landscape for the next 25 years.
It says the electricity generated will power 28,000 homes and, by supplying the local distribution network, provide much-needed electrical generation in the South West.
The company claims the development would provide 50% of Cornwall’s 2010 target for renewable energy in one location rather than a proliferation of wind farms in Cornwall.
It would also inject £62 million into the local economy over the lifetime of the project.
Community Windpower says the elevated, exposed location makes it the best-suited in Cornwall to capture wind energy and generate electricity.
Last year, residents led a vociferous campaign against a similar scheme, because the site was within a three-mile radius of 10 turbines at Delabole and 22 at Cold Northcott.
Under the revised plans, the site no longer includes any part of Davidstow Airfield.
But objectors vow they will fight this proposal “tooth and nail”.
Bob English, of Stop Turbines in North Cornwall (STINC), said: “News that another planning application has been submitted isn’t a surprise, but it has still shocked many in the local community because of the sheer size.
“And it beggars belief that the company wants to build on land rich in birds and wildlife and next to Crowdy reservoir and the Tors.
“The reason they are here is to make money and don’t care if they blight Cornwall in the process.
“North Cornwall has enough wind farms. People must write to North Cornwall District Council’s planning department and register clear objections to this proposal.”
Keith Goodenough, local farmer and chairman of Group Against Windfarm Proliferation, said: “We shall object vehemently against it, no matter what happens.
“We have enough wind farms here. We are surrounded by them and enough is enough. We are not against generating electricity from the wind, but this is overdoing it.”
North Cornwall planning officer Malcolm Price said: “It is too early to indicate what recommendation will come before the planning committee, which is unlikely to consider the application before Christmas.
“Further assessments need to be undertaken on the likely impact on the countryside and how the new wind farm will relate to those already operating at Delabole and Cold Northcott.”
29 July 2008
URL to article: https://www.wind-watch.org/news/2008/07/29/plan-to-build-cornwalls-biggest-wind-farm-revealed/