July 22, 2011
England

Council planners seek refusal vote for Crook Hill wind farm plan

Rossendale Free Press, menmedia.co.uk 22 July 2011

A campaign against an access route to a 12-turbine windfarm has received a boost.

Coronation Power’s Shawforth application will be ruled on by Rossendale planners next week – but has been recommended for refusal.

Officers claim the A671 access route for the Crook Hill windfarm, 2km east of Whitworth, would lead to unsustainable traffic movements through the junction of Landgate and Market Street.

It has also met with objections from United Utilities and Whitworth Town Council.

A United Utilities spokesman said: “The change in access extends the impact of the development from affecting two feeds to all four main feeds into Watergrove Reservoir.

“This objection is based on the resultant short and long-term negative impact on water quality when peat is disturbed.”

Whitworth councillor David Barnes has claimed the access road, which runs through Middle Hill Quarry and over Rough Hill, could potentially destroy priceless iron age and Viking archaeology, in the absence of a full ground survey.

Ancient burial sites dating back 3,000 years have been found nearby at Bagden and Hades Hill.

The turbines proposed by Coronation Power are 125 metres high and seven would be sited in Rochdale; with the remaining five over the Calderdale border.

Coronation Power bosses say that if they get the go-ahead construction of the windfarm is due to start in early 2012 and it will be finished later in the year.

The proposals were approved by Rochdale Council last month.

Rossendale’s development control committee is due to make a decision at 6.30pm on Wednesday, July 27 at the Riverside, Whitworth – in a change of venue from previous council correspondence.


URL to article:  https://www.wind-watch.org/news/2011/07/22/council-planners-seek-refusal-vote-for-crook-hill-wind-farm-plan/