April 3, 2012
England

Delay for Dorcas Lane wind farm plan?

Leighton Buzzard Observer, www.leightonbuzzardonline.co.uk 3 April 2012

A rare bat species and an incorrect fee payment could delay the planning application decision for four wind turbines at Dorcas Lane, Stoke Hammond.

Aylesbury Vale District Council has written to the developer of the proposed wind farm site last week saying that recent bat surveys done in the area were unsatisfactory according to the council’s biodiversity Green Spaces Team, who insist a bat survey must be done in the summer months for proper analysis as the original survey was not conducted within the agreed best practise guidelines.

There is also a question of how much should have been paid for the application.

Figures suggest that only £14,000 was paid for the 125metre four-bladed turbines, and only the area underneath the wind farm was taken into consideration. But the council has now asked for a fee to incorporate the whole square-meterage of the development site and the fee is believed to exceed £120,000.

The council fears the incorrect fee payment on an application could potentially invalidate any appeal should the council refuse it. The council also advised the developers that once the correct fee is paid the 16-week timescale for determination would have to begin again.

For more on this story and to see the result of the LBO’s reader poll on the wind farm see today’s issue of the paper.

URL to article:  https://www.wind-watch.org/news/2012/04/03/delay-for-dorcas-lane-wind-farm-plan/