November 1, 2011
England

Wind turbine protest takes off with balloon

Evening Telegraph, www.northantset.co.uk 1 November 2011

Campaigners fighting plans to put up wind turbines in their village have taken their protest to the skies.

An application to build two 250KW turbines at 233ft tall and ancillary buildings in a field off Hinwick Road, Wollaston, was submitted to Wellingborough Council at the end of September.

Since then opposition to the plans has been mounting and a Say No to Wollaston Windfarm campaign group has been formed in a bid to fight against the plans.

Campaigners are also planning to voice their anger at a public meeting from 7.30pm on Thursday, November 10, at Wollaston Village Hall.

In a bid to demonstrate how high the proposed 71m wind turbines would reach, members of the anti windfarm group flew a tethered blimp over the village at the weekend .

They were joined by members of the Save Irchester Countryside group, which has previously been successful in preserving areas of Roman heritage in Irchester, who are supporting the campaign.

Tony Skipper, from the Irchester group, said: “The Wollaston Windfarm Campaign flew a tethered blimp to show how high 233ft (71m) is above the planned location of the wind farm.

“We had it flying over the fields next to Wollaston at 71 metres high and it could be seen up to 20 miles away.

“The campaign to fight the plans is growing and we at the Save Irchester Countryside campaign are throwing our weight behind this after seeing the visual impact these huge turbines have on our countryside.”

The group has also recently started a petition and launched a Facebook page.

People can view the wind turbine plans in full by going to www.planning.wellingborough.gov.uk/portal/ and checking the application entitled WP/2011/0443.

For further details about the petition or the public meeting contact Penny Haynes at pennyhaynes@aol.co.uk.

URL to article:  https://www.wind-watch.org/news/2011/11/01/wind-turbine-protest-takes-off-with-balloon/