May 24, 2012
England

200 pack hall over wind plan

Emily Nice, www.cambridge-news.co.uk 224 May 2012

More than 200 villagers have met over concerns about plans to build a wind farm near their homes.

It emerged that there were “no dissenting voices” at a public meeting held by the Stop Litlington Wind Farm Action Group, in the village hall last Thursday.

The meeting was held to hear the views of residents of Litlington, in response to a planning application submitted to South Cambridgeshire District Council for five turbines on farmland in the village.

Philip Jones, of the action group, said: “The meeting seemed to go very well.

“I think we had more than 200 people there, so it was standing room only.

“I don’t think we could have got any more people in the hall if we tried – it was extremely packed.”

The meeting, which lasted about three hours, opened with a short film by Nigel Spence, a film producer who has spent four years filming across the world how wind farms have affected the lives of local residents.

This was followed by a talk by Chris Hanning, a retired consultant in sleep disorder medicine, who has published research on the impact of wind turbine noise and in particular its effect on sleep and health.

Mr Jones added: “People are very concerned about these plans.

“I think the overall feeling amongst people was that this is just an inappropriate place for them to be built.

“That is the message that seemed to resonate at the meeting, not one against renewable energy.

“We had a long question and answer session and I was prepared for opposing views, but there were no dissenting voices at all.”

The meeting also consisted of a talk by a retired aircraft structure designer, who researched the energy potential of the proposed site and a speech by Mike Barnard, a wind farm consultant and veteran of some 30 opposition campaigns against wind farms.

The turbines will next be discussed at Litlington Parish Council’s planning meeting on Tuesday.

URL to article:  https://www.wind-watch.org/news/2012/05/24/200-pack-hall-over-wind-plan/