January 14, 2012
England

Hotel’s wind plan provokes alarm

Yorkshire Evening Post, www.yorkshireeveningpost.co.uk 14 January 2012

A senior local politician has warned the need for renewable energy cannot be at the expense of the heritage of Yorkshire’s most popular seaside resort after a controversial wind turbine scheme earmarked for a 19th century hotel was thrown out.

Managers of the Crown Spa Hotel on Scarborough’s famous Victorian Esplanade had submitted proposals to install 16 turbines on the roof of the grade II* listed building, which they claimed would achieve a 50 per cent reduction in the business’s carbon dioxide emissions by 2015.

However, Scarborough Borough Council’s planning committee has voted against the scheme amid concerns over the impact that the wind turbines would have on the character of the resort’s Esplanade.

The council’s portfolio holder for strategic planning and regeneration, Councillor Derek Bastiman, admitted there is a “very fine line” between encouraging green energy schemes while preserving the heritage of towns such as Scarborough.

Coun Bastiman added: “We have got to carefully manage our heritage which is so important to the tourism industry.

“Renewable energy schemes are obviously very important, but they have to be built in the correct location, and I do believe the planning committee made the right decision.”

The proposed wind turbine scheme would have seen a row of turbines ranging from six to 13ft high built next to 19 existing solar panels on the roof of the hotel, which was finished in the 1840s and is one of Scarborough’s most historic buildings.

Members of the town’s civic society joined forces with English Heritage and a string of nearby residents in strongly objecting to the application, which went before the council’s planning committee on Thursday.

The Yorkshire Post revealed earlier this month that the chairman of the civic society, Adrian Perry, had labelled the planned wind turbine scheme as an act of “vandalism” for the hotel.


URL to article:  https://www.wind-watch.org/news/2012/01/14/hotels-wind-plan-provokes-alarm/