August 13, 2011
England

Villagers say ‘no’ to wind farm proposals

Lynn News, www.lynnnews.co.uk 12 August 2011

Residents of two West Norfolk villages have vowed to fight plans for a multi-million pound wind farm close to their communities.

More than 60 people attended a public protest meeting against the proposed Ongarhill wind farm held at the Terrington St Clement village hall on Monday and a committee is now set to be formed to co-ordinate the campaign.

As first reported in the Lynn News last month, plans for an 11 turbine wind farm, which could cost more than £20 million to build, are being drawn up.

A planning application for the site, which lies close to the villages of Terrington St Clement and Clenchwarton, is expected to be submitted to the West Norfolk Council next month.

But the meeting heard worries that even more turbines would eventually go onto the site if the current scheme was approved.

Critics also believe the turbines would blight their homes and damage surrounding habitats for wildlife.

And they fear that the local road network would not be able to cope with the number of vehicles needed to go to and from the site each day, particularly the very largest lorries.

Dionne Mitchell said she was concerned about the impact of the site on the health of her teenage daughter, who has a form of autism and also spoke at the meeting

And Terrington resident Gerry Rider asked: “Why are we putting them on our countryside and blotting the landscape when they can go offshore?”

Borough councillor and Terrington parish council chairman David Harwood said he was “dead against” the proposals and urged residents to make sure they voiced their objections once the planning application is submitted.

He said there was a good chance that the plans would be turned down, pointing out that the borough council’s development control board had rejected plans for another wind farm in the district last month.

He also revealed he had warned Coriolis Energy, one of the companies behind the proposed development, that proposals for the largest lorries which would need to go to and from the site to use Marsh Road would be a “disastrous situation” for nearby householders.

He said he had urged them to pursue an alternative route along the C80 road, but had been told by the company that landowners were not interested in the proposal.

Numerous claims were also made that staff had given conflicting information to residents at two public exhibitions last month.

Coriolis project manager Kath Ibbotson said yesterday she was disappointed to hear the claims and urged residents to contact them with any questions they have.

She said the answers would be published on their website.

URL to article:  https://www.wind-watch.org/news/2011/08/13/villagers-say-no-to-wind-farm-proposals/