January 28, 2012
England

Wind farm decision was a major blow

By Sam Vernon, www.biggleswadetoday.co.uk 28 January 2012

Angry homeowners who live close to the site where the Langford wind farm will be built say the Planning Inspectorate has not listened to their views.

Posters backing the campaign against the wind farm plans – which were approved last week by the Inspectorate – still appear in the windows of houses up and down East Road.

Opponents to the 10-turbine farm, which will be built and operated by the Co-Operative Group, are disappointed with the report produced by inspector Robin Brooks.

Mr Brooks – who led the wind farm inquiry at the Central Bedfordshire Council offices after the authority turned down the Co-Operative Group’s first application – concluded that the facility would not have an adverse effect on village life.

But many villagers disagree.

Paul Bradfield, 68, who lives in East Road and was active in the campaign against the plans, believes Mr Brooks should have looked at the proposals from a villager’s point of view.

He said: “It’s very disappointing and it seems that everything that people in the village said, every point they made, has fallen on deaf ears.

“I think what the inspector failed to take into account was the fact that Langford is a quiet village.

“There is a railway line at the end of the road but the trains pass quickly and the rest of the time it is almost silent but for the noise of the birds.

“That will no longer be the case when the turbines have been put up.”

Richard Chambers, 65, who also lives in East Road also disputes the inspector’s conclusions.

He said: “I’ve read the report and it has clearly not been written by somebody who has spent a great deal of time in the village.

“Yes he visited Langford but it was quite brief – he has no idea what it’s like or what it will be like to actually live here when the wind farm has been built.”

But Karon Rogers disagrees and a rare sight can be see at her home in Station Road – a poster encouraging support for the plans.

Karon, 48, said: “My family like the elegance and calmness that turbines seem to add to a landscape.

“My daughters always try to get us to stop at the turbines we pass in Norfolk when we are in the area.”

When Karon’s daughters Ella, 14, and Hettie, 13 saw the banners and posters being put up around the village they disagreed with the campaign and decided to respond.

Karon added: “They designed their own posters which we put up on the windows and around the house. The response we have had has been amazing. People have stopped us in the village to say well done.”

URL to article:  https://www.wind-watch.org/news/2012/01/28/wind-farm-decision-was-a-major-blow/