September 20, 2011
England

Decision delays over wind turbine bid have left us in ‘limbo land’ say residents

Nottingham Post, www.thisisnottingham.co.uk 20 September 2011

Residents in Burton Joyce claim they have been left in “limbo land” by delays in plans to build two wind turbines.

They have called on Gedling Borough Council to take a harder line on Severn Trent Water over the time it is taking with proposals.

Severn Trent applied to the borough council in March last year to put up two turbines next to Poplars Sports Ground in Burton Joyce.

They would be installed on land at its Stoke Bardolph plant and could be 132 metres high.

But Burton Joyce Parish Council submitted a 200-page petition against the proposal in July.

A council decision was expected last autumn, but a planning committee date has been pushed back several times.

Steve Cluff, vice-chairman of Burton Joyce Parish Council and chairman of the parish council’s wind turbine working group, said Severn Trent had been too slow in progressing the application.

“It’s a bit like people are left in limbo land,” Mr Cluff said. “Severn Trent have been very slow in getting information together. And the council has allowed for this to be scraped along rather than reinforcing any deadlines.

“The information the council has requested is vital but the council’s planning department should have said ‘if it’s not here by a certain time, either withdraw the application, or we will rule by the information we have’.”

Severn Trent’s renewable energy project specialist Jon Beeson said the company had to hold off completing its noise assessment study until noise abatement work had been completed, which had caused a delay. He added Severn Trent was expecting to finish this by the end of this year.

But Mr Cluff remained skeptical.

He added: “There are property owners around the turbine site who want to sell but are worried they’re going to have their houses de-valued.

“Others have sold and not got the value they wanted.”

The parish council now plans to submit an official complaint to Gedling Borough Council.

“The parish council has agreed to submit a complaint to the council because it has failed to progress the planning application to a satisfactory decision making capability,” Mr Cluff said.

Peter Baguley, the borough’s head of planning and environment said the council was working closely with TNEI, the agent for the application, to resolve a number of outstanding issues, including additional noise monitoring.

Mr Baguley added: “Clarification has also been requested by the borough council on several other matters including issues such as visual distraction to the adjacent cricket pitch, gathered wind speed data, ‘shadow flicker’ and piling techniques.”

He added the council believed it appropriate to allow sufficient time for these questions to be addressed.

URL to article:  https://www.wind-watch.org/news/2011/09/20/decision-delays-over-wind-turbine-bid-have-left-us-in-limbo-land-say-residents/