January 4, 2011
England

Wind farm protesters raise cash

Leicester Mercury, www.thisisleicestershire.co.uk 3 January 2011

Residents campaigning against a wind farm have raised £1,750 through a new year raffle towards employing expert help.

The alternative energy company SLP erected a meteorological mast to gather data with a view to siting two wind masts on farmland between the villages of Peckleton, Desford, Kirkby Mallory and Newbold Verdon.

Peckleton Action Group was formed to fight the development and arranged a prize draw at £25 a ticket to help pay for an independent assessment of the data, in anticipation of SLP submitting a planning application for the turbines.

Applicants are required to pay for a study as part of the planning process and the residents’ group wants to be able to scrutinise it properly.

Peckleton Action Group spokeswoman Angelina Thorne said: “Local councils do not normally have the in-house resources or experience to check whether the vast amount of data put forward has been collected correctly and whether the interpretations they make are completely objective.

“Councils also face huge cuts everywhere to their resources.

“Residents are, therefore, raising funds to have the application scrutinised by independent experts.”

The money raised by the raffle is about half the amount needed. The winning ticket was drawn at the Little India restaurant, in Peckleton, on New Year’s Eve and was hand delivered straight away.

SLP has said it cannot make any further comment until it has the results of the test mast.


URL to article:  https://www.wind-watch.org/news/2011/01/04/wind-farm-protesters-raise-cash/