May 10, 2012
England

10 formal objections lodged against plans for windfarm

North-West Evening Mail, www.nwemail.co.uk 10 May 2012

Ten formal objections have been lodged against controversial plans to build a windfarm at the edge of the Lake District National Park.

The letters objecting to the proposed six-turbine windfarm at Langthwaite, near Millom, have been submitted to Copeland Borough Council’s planning committee.

REG Windpower, the company behind the proposal, asked for the plans to be put on hold following a change in planning policy, but the application is set to go live again within the next month.

A spokeswoman for Copeland Borough Council said there had been 10 formal objections to the proposals to date, but the letters of objection were unavailable due to the application being on hold.

If the proposals get the go ahead, it is thought the development would be visible from across the Duddon estuary.

Councillor Audrey Gabbert, mayor of Millom, said: “There are a lot of people in Kirksanton who are against them, I would expect more letters to come.

“I am not in favour of wind turbines.

“There are two people that benefit from windfarms, the people who build the turbines and the people whose land they are on.

“All we get is a sop.”

The developer believes the windfarm would generate enough power to provide around 6,500 homes with electricity.

Should the development go ahead, a £48,000 annual community fund would be set up to help fund projects in the area.

Sue Abbott, who lives in Kirksanton and runs a holiday cottage, said: “I thought there would be more (letters of objection).

“Though I have not sent my letter in yet – the planning officer said there is 21 days.

“They also said it’s the reasons why people object rather than the number of objections.

“It’s not a case of ‘not in my back yard’ because we have them at sea and it is going to be five more at Haverigg, making that windfarm bigger.”

Mrs Abbott was joined by more than 20 Kirksanton residents who spoke out against the proposed development at a meeting in February.

Maggie Cumming lives in Kirksanton and attended the meeting.

She said: “I definitely think there will be more objections and I will be writing.

“It’s more to do with the location of the turbines than people being anti-renewable.

“How are they going to let us know when the application is active again?”

A Copeland Borough Council spokeswoman said the application is due to go live within the next “few weeks”.


URL to article:  https://www.wind-watch.org/news/2012/05/10/10-formal-objections-lodged-against-plans-for-windfarm/