June 15, 2011
England

Wind turbines noise nuisance case draws near

www.spaldingtoday.co.uk 15 June 2011

A couple who are about to take their wind farm noise nuisance case to the High Court say they can not imagine what winning or losing will feel like.

Jane and Julian Davis say the battle against eight wind turbines at Deeping St Nicholas has taken over their lives for the last five years, leaving them unable to picture what their future may be.

Next month, starting from July 4, two weeks has been set aside for them to put their case forward to the High Court.

They claim their property has become uninhabitable because of Amplitude Modulation (AM) and a low-level frequency hum generated by the 59-metre high turbines near to their farm on North Drove Bank.

Jane said: “I can not see a future. I just take every day as it comes. I do not know what winning or losing will feel like.

“This has taken over our lives. When it’s over, for me, it will be about completely reinventing myself.

“One big thing I have struggled with is how I have always looked forward to things and now I do not. They just happen; I participate in them. “We have been married ten years but for five of that we have been out of our own home.”

The couple moved out of their farm completely to a rented property in Spalding in May 2007 because they say they were unable to sleep from the effects of the turbines.

A mediation session held as part of the High Court proceedings has been inconclusive and they are now busy in the final preparations for their case.

During this time, they have also faced court proceedings for not paying council tax on their property in Deeping St Nicholas from December 2010. Those proceedings have been adjourned until July 19.

“It has been constant, sometimes 18 hours a day, answering questions from the other side,” explained Jane.

“More and more details are required about all sorts of things looking at costs and expenses over the last four or five years.

“It’s very busy and they want responses to things so quickly. There are court hearings, pre-court meetings and conferences between legal teams and experts.

“It’s constant and reasonably unremitting.”

Since the problems began, Jane and Julian have travelled across the world to explain their experience.

Both in South Holland and globally, Jane believes a greater understanding to their case has developed over the last five years.

She said: “For a long time there was a lack of understanding, not a lack of support. The support we get from people we meet is pretty amazing and has been throughout all of this.

“I do not think local people realise the significance of this globally. We went to a conference in Rome in April dealing with wind turbine noise.

“At the first one in 2007, the phenomenon in Deeping St Nicholas was discussed in one paper. This year it was three-and-a-half days and for one-and-a-half days different academics from around the world were talking about the phenomenon we were experiencing at Deeping St Nicholas.”

URL to article:  https://www.wind-watch.org/news/2011/06/15/wind-turbines-noise-nuisance-case-draws-near/