November 4, 2010
England

Wind farm protest

Pontefract & Castleford Express, www.pontefractandcastlefordexpress.co.uk 3 November 2010

Outraged residents turned out in force at a public exhibition this week to demand answers about plans to build a wind farm on land near Cridling Stubbs, Womersley and Knottingley.

Members of the newly-formed Cridling Stubbs and Womersley Action Group questioned Waste Recycling Group (WRG) bosses at the event about the company’s plan to build eight 125m high wind turbines on the Darrington Quarry site.

Residents have a catalogue of concerns about the proposed turbines – one of which they claim will be just 600m from the nearest property.

Robert Klaasen, the action group’s chairman, said: “We have many issues with these plans – environmental and health and safety concerns.

“We went to the Cridling Stubbs and Womersley parish council meetings to get an idea of how many residents were upset about the plans, and we will be holding our first official meeting soon.

“The public exhibition was extremely helpful but didn’t mention the extremely serious impact this wind farm is going to have on the lives of people in the surrounding areas.

“A lot of people don’t realise the site is actually very close to Knottingley as well as Cridling Stubbs and Womersley.”

Andrew Huddlestone lives at Park Balk Farm, Knottingley, close to the wind farm site. A picture showing what the turbines would look like from his land was on display at the exhibition.

Mr Huddlestone said: “The turbines are very clearly visible from my land but the visual impact is just one of many concerns.

“I am now learning all about the implications of these things, the value of our property, for one. It could be unsaleable so then we wouldn’t be able to escape if there were other health and safety or noise problems.”

WRG plans to submit a planning application for the scheme to Wakefield and Selby Councils at the beginning of December.

Stuart Markham, from WRG, said: “We want to make sure we cover everything which is why the feedback from the exhibition helps us.

“We’re not going spend two years planning something we have no chance of achieving so we want to be thorough and look at all the responses from residents.

“The next thing for us is to produce the environmental assessment which will form part of our planning proposal, which will go through the standard process which is open to the public.”

Visit www.wrg.co.uk/wind for more details about the proposal.

URL to article:  https://www.wind-watch.org/news/2010/11/04/wind-farm-protest-2/