| Wind Watch is a registered educational charity, founded in 2005. |
Villagers celebrate as wind turbine bid is blown away
Credit: By Paul Christian, Reporter, Welwyn Hatfield Times, www.whtimes.co.uk 31 October 2011 ~~
Translate: FROM English | TO English
Translate: FROM English | TO English
Villagers are relieved after a plan to erect a massive wind turbine has been blown away by councillors.
The application to install the 284ft turbine and substation on land by High Elms Lane in Benington was recommended for approval by officers at East Herts Council.
But councillors decided the answer wasn’t blowing in the wind and voted to throw the application out, at last Wednesday’s meeting of the development control committee.
Residents in neighbouring Watton-at-Stone are celebrating the defeat of the scheme.
Parish council Mike Smith told the WHT: “It’s a good result for local people.
“It’s what they wanted and it’s what they’ve got.”
He added: “It was rejected on visual impact [grounds] and I think that’s the right result.
“It would have had a huge visual impact.”
The decision is a second blow to applicant Andrew Bott, who first unsuccessfully applied for planning permission for three larger turbines in 2009.
A poll in Benington last month showed the majority of villagers were against the plan which would have fed energy into the national grid.
The Welwyn-based Hertfordshire branch of the Campaign for Rural England (CPRE) also opposed the turbine.
CPRE planning manager Seg Baker wrote to East Herts Council to voice the organisation’s concerns.
The latter read: “We consider the visual impact and loss of tranquillity resulting from the proposed
development would have a severely detrimental effect on this area of high landscape value.”
It added: “We do not believe that very special circumstances exist that outweigh harm to the Green Belt and other harm from this inappropriate development, which lies in part in the Green Belt and the remainder of which lies in an important landscape setting.”
The long-running campaign against the windmill was backed by North East Hertfordshire MP Oliver Heald and best-selling author Frederick Forsyth, who lives nearby.
The Day of the Jackal writer previously branded the turbines an “eyesore”.
This article is the work of the source indicated. Any opinions expressed in it are not necessarily those of National Wind Watch.
The copyright of this article resides with the author or publisher indicated. As part of its noncommercial educational effort to present the environmental, social, scientific, and economic issues of large-scale wind power development to a global audience seeking such information, National Wind Watch endeavors to observe “fair use” as provided for in section 107 of U.S. Copyright Law and similar “fair dealing” provisions of the copyright laws of other nations. Send requests to excerpt, general inquiries, and comments via e-mail.
| Wind Watch relies entirely on User Funding |
 (via Stripe) |
 (via Paypal) |
Share:
[ Short URL: https://wind-watch.org/news/?p=14919 ]
