January 12, 2011
England

Residents welcome rejection of wind farm after appeal

By Alexandra Wood, Yorkshire Post, www.yorkshirepost.co.uk 12 January 2011

Politicians and residents have welcomed East Riding Council’s first victory over wind farm developers at appeal.

Planning inspectors have so far always backed developers over local objections.

But now planning inspector Andrew Pykett has agreed with East Riding Council’s refusal of plans for three giant turbines on the coast near Tunstall and dismissed developer Energiekontor UK’s appeal.

Two wind farms have already been given approval at nearby Roos – totalling 12 turbines – with another three at Burton Pidsea.

East Riding Council’s environmental portfolio holder Coun Symon Fraser said the inspector’s decision gave hope “that there is a purpose in objecting and there is a purpose in refusing if the community and the council are minded to jointly consider that they are inappropriately sited.”

Coun Fraser said he believed there were better ways of producing renewable energy, which did not require fossil fuel back up when the machines could not operate because of weather conditions.

Chairman of the parish council David Winter welcomed the decision but said they would still be left with 12 turbines.

He said: “It is good news but the other two shouldn’t have been passed either.”

Mr Pykett said two or more of the wind farms would be noticeable, particularly to someone driving between Tunstall, Roos and Burton Pidsea. He added: “An observer in this area would enjoy little respite from the presence of turbines either travelling in a vehicle or walking in the locality.

“It would be difficult to avoid the sequential cumulative effect or the sense that the turbines had defined the local landscape of a substantial proportion of this part of Holderness.”

He concluded that in this case “the cumulative impacts would be sufficiently serious to constitute a harmful impact on the landscape and visual amenity of the area.”

Appeals on the nine-turbines wind farm at Sunderland Farm, Roos and three-turbines at Tedder Hill, Roos were both upheld.

Earlier this week wind farm developers RES carried out a dummy run with a specially-modified lorry to test the delivery route from Hull docks. Work will begin on the farm early next year. Building is expected to take 12 months.

URL to article:  https://www.wind-watch.org/news/2011/01/12/residents-welcome-rejection-of-wind-farm-after-appeal/