February 15, 2012
England

Plane fears stop Barrow wind turbine bid

North-West Evening Mail, www.nwemail.co.uk 15 February 2012

Plans to build a 30-metre high turbine on an industrial site have been thrown out.

Barrow Borough Council’s planning committee returned a unanimous verdict to refuse plans to build the 50kW wind turbine on the Neil Martin Group Ltd site, in Bouthwood Road, Barrow.

In his recommendations, planning officer Jason Hipkiss said the application should be refused on the grounds of aviation safety.

He told yesterday’s meeting that compared to other applications, it was a fairly good site to have a wind turbine.

But the development would lie underneath the flight path of planes travelling to and from Walney Aerodrome.

Mr Hipkiss said: “It raises the issue of if planes take off and there is an emergency, they need somewhere to set the plane down and this wind turbine would be another obstacle in the way.

“There is clearly an aviation safety issue here.”

BAE Systems, which operates the airfield, did not wish to comment further.

But in a statement before the meeting, Captain Malcolm Sewell, head of flying at Walney Aerodrome, said: “The location is significant because aircraft taking off from that runway will overfly the location within a very short time. Should the aircraft develop a problem which means the aircraft will not climb, or indeed if the worst occurred, was unable to maintain height, the area of Sowerby Wood is one which the aircraft captain would be searching for a suitable area to make a forced landing.

“Plotting the coordinates and corresponding grounds elevations, along with the proposed structural height, the location does create an issue with Walney Aerodrome safeguarding.

“There would be no improvement in safety with the proposal and indeed, another obstacle would definitely increase the hazard and associated risk.”

URL to article:  https://www.wind-watch.org/news/2012/02/15/plane-fears-stop-barrow-wind-turbine-bid/