April 11, 2012
England

Public meeting about turbine

By Jenny Moody, www.uttoxeter-news.co.uk 11 April 2012

Residents angered by proposals for a giant wind turbine near Uttoxeter are set to hold a public meeting to make their voices heard.

Aggregates Industries and PowerWind Projects is preparing a planning application, expected to be submitted in spring, for an 87m (285ft) high wind turbine, which is almost as high as London’s Big Ben clock tower, at Uttoxeter Quarry, in Spath.

The company had previously promised this land would be restored after the quarrying had been completed with places suitable for agriculture, water areas, a nature reserve and a place for recreation.

Now, Uttoxeter Rural Parish Council has called a public meeting at Stramshall Village Hall at 7.30pm on Thursday, April 19.

A leaflet inviting residents to attend shows a scale drawing of the size of the turbine compared to St Michael’s Church, in Stramshall, and St Mary’s, in Uttoxeter.

It states the life of the device is 25 years, so the council is assuming Aggregate Industries will want to continue quarrying until 2038 and the turbine will be replaced with a bigger one after that time.

The parish council said: “This turbine would dominate the landscape across a huge area. Our lovely surroundings are in danger of being ruined forever.

“Aggregates Industries is proposing to erect this monstrosity just yards from our homes and we will be the ones paying for it,” the leaflet claims.

“For such projects massive amounts of the income produced to make this project possible will be coming from a levy on our personal electricity bills.” It continues to say that the company was granted planning permission to extract sand and gravel on the condition it restored the whole area to lakes, including sailing, wildlife habitats, cycle tracks and footpaths.

The leaflet alleges: “Don’t believe the misrepresentations in the charm offensive leaflet just circulated.

Aggregates Industries is in this for a profit only and has no interest in the well-being of ourselves and our children and grandchildren or the beautiful area we live in.

“We will fight this proposal as we successfully fought plans to ruin Spath in the past including appeals and two public inquiries.” Tim Claxton, senior estate surveyor of Aggregates Industries, previously told The Advertiser the plans for the wind turbine were in the consultation stage and said plans to restore Uttoxeter Quarry still included transforming it for recreational and leisure uses.

Uttoxeter MP Andrew Griffiths, who has previously been outspoken about the plans, is also joining the crusade against it by telling Uttoxeter’s 50 Plus Forum he was planning to launch a petition to highlight concerns and hoped it would be signed by thousands of people.

URL to article:  https://www.wind-watch.org/news/2012/04/11/public-meeting-about-turbine/