July 4, 2012
England

Parliament to debate Navitus Bay wind farm plan

By Jim Durkin | www.thisisdorset.net 4 July 2012

The debate on the controversial Navitus Bay wind farm, proposed off the Bournemouth and Poole coast, moves to the Houses of Parliament today.

South Dorset MP Richard Drax secured the adjournment debate as concerns continue to mount about the potential effects of the sprawling 76-square mile offshore farm.

Mr Drax said: “There are people who are for the wind farm. There are people who support it but want it in a different place and there are many people who are against it. I will be mentioning this in the debate.

“But the general consensus seems to be that people don’t want it there. I don’t believe, and nor do any of my constituents feel, that this is NIMBYism, because of the sheer scale of this vast wind farm.”

If approved, the Navitus Bay wind farm would stretch between Purbeck and the Isle of Wight and contain 150-300 wind turbines towering up to 210 meters high.

The Swanage-based Challenge Navitus group says the most likely height of each turbine, 189 metres high, would eclipse the ‘Gherkin’ building in the City of London.

Eneco, the company behind the bid, have held a series of public consultations across the conurbation.

Mr Drax added: “This wind farm could be only a few kilometres off our coast which has World Heritage status.

“If we told the Australians we were going to build this opposite their Great Barrier Reef, I think I know, having been to Australia, exactly where they would tell you to go.”

Bournemouth West MP Conor Burns, pictured below, said he had held meetings about the wind farm with ministers, Crown Estates, Bournemouth’s Meyrick Estate and the leader of Bournemouth council.

He said was pressing for more information about the visual impact of the site, which he feared could affect tourism.

“Depending on where it is, how big it is and how much we will see it, that will determine whether I’m prepared to tolerate it or vehemently opposed to it,” he added.


URL to article:  https://www.wind-watch.org/news/2012/07/04/parliament-to-debate-navitus-bay-wind-farm-plan/