September 4, 2010
England

Villagers prepared to continue their fight if wind farm decisions are appealed

www.thisishullandeastriding.co.uk 4 September 2010

Residents living in a tiny village say their community spirit will see off plans for two giant wind farms on their doorstep.

The two separate schemes at Spaldington, near Howden, were rejected earlier this week by East Riding planning councillors.

The decisions are now expected to be challenged in appeals by the two energy companies involved, Falck Renewables and Volkswind.

But village campaigners say they are confident their arguments will again win the day if public inquiries are held into the two schemes.

Richard Kettlewell, chairman of the Spaldington Turbine Opposition Project group, said: “They may well go to appeal, but we are quite confident we will win.

“This issue has pulled an already closely knit community together in so many ways. We are just a small village in lovely countryside, but that countryside means so much to the people who live there.”

More than 800 letters of objection against the two developments were submitted to the council.

Seven local parish councils also objected, along with Howden Town Council, Haltemprice and Howden MP David Davis and Euro MEP Godfrey Bloom.

If given the go-ahead, the two wind farms would have stood on either side of the village.

Councillor Paul Robinson, who moved refusal on both applications, said approving the two schemes would mean no fewer than 90 wind turbines within a 12-and-half mile radius of the village.

He also said the two proposed wind farms would see a total of 53 properties within 1,000 metres of the nearest turbine.

He said: “To site turbines this close to people’s home is absolute madness.”

Councillor Bob Tress said the proximity of the proposed turbines to residential properties broke “new ground” in the consideration of wind farm applications in the East Riding.

He said: “There has to be a marker laid down to say how close can you go?”

Brian Denney, a consultant for Volkswind, said other public inquiry decisions on wind farm schemes discounted proximity to residential properties as a reason for refusal.

He claimed noise mitigation measures would be enough to minimise the impact on people living nearby.


URL to article:  https://www.wind-watch.org/news/2010/09/04/villagers-prepared-to-continue-their-fight-if-wind-farm-decisions-are-appealed/