March 9, 2012
England

Northumberland council wind turbine images not acurate says campaigner

by Brian Daniel, The Journal, www.journallive.co.uk 9 March 2012

A computer-generated vision of Northumberland has been given an overhaul, amid claims its wind turbines are not big enough.

The image was created by Northumberland County Council nearly two years ago as part of a campaign to encourage residents to get involved in keeping the county clean and green.

The vision has appeared in the council’s Northumberland News magazine, on roadside advertising and appears on staff’s emails.

It features some of the county’s popular attributes, such as a castle, hills, trees, a river, a beach and the sea, above the campaign slogan “Love Northumberland, caring for our county”.

The vision also features the somewhat less popular turbines.

However, the size at which the three engines appear annoyed John Tait, 46, who lives at Elsdon.

Mr Tait lives one kilometre away from where wind developer Air Farmers is seeking to put nine turbines. He is firmly against that proposal and is part of the Middle Hill Action Group which is fighting it. He runs its website.

The turbines there are proposed to be 125m high, typical of the size many developers are looking to erect.

The scale of the engines compared with their surroundings in the council’s vision prompted Mr Tait to act, with him claiming it does not reflect the size of turbines being proposed around the county.

The campaigner claims the authority’s efforts are in fact nine times smaller than real life.

He produced his own version of the image, with the turbines enlarged to what he claims is a more accurate scale and dwarfing their surroundings.

Mr Tait, whose work appears on the group’s website, said: “If you are going to try to include wind energy in your vision for Northumberland, at least have the courage to try and depict it in its true scale.

“They are not windmills, they are an industrial power station.”

The council responded, with a spokesman saying: “The branding used to promote the campaign in no way relates to the council’s position on the development of wind farms and isn’t meant to be done to scale.

“The drawing is merely a graphical representation that is designed to represent, in some small way, the county of Northumberland.

“The three turbines are simply meant to represent renewable energy using a visual image that is familiar to most people, so we’re sorry for any confusion.”

The authority said hundreds of residents have signed up to support the campaign and thousands more have made contact via the phone number and email it promotes.

If you are going to try to include wind energy have the courage to depict it in its true scale [ends]

URL to article:  https://www.wind-watch.org/news/2012/03/09/northumberland-council-wind-turbine-images-not-acurate-says-campaigner/