July 10, 2012
England

Villagers set for new wind turbine battle

Nottingham Post | www.thisisnottingham.co.uk 10 July 2012

Villagers are gearing up for a fresh battle against plans to build a wind turbine in Burton Joyce.

Severn Trent Water asked Gedling Borough Council for the green light to build two 132-metre wind turbines on land next to the Poplars Sports Ground in March 2010, but councillors turned the plan down in March.

More than 1,190 letters of objection were sent to the council between April 2010 and March 2011 and only five letters of support were received.

Sport England also objected because it said the turbines could distract players and spectators at the nearby sports ground.

Severn Trent is now proposing to put up one 100-metre-high turbine within the same 2,000-acre site.

But Steve Cluff, vice-chairman of Burton Joyce Parish Council, which submitted a 200-page document opposing the plans, said the council was set to launch another campaign against the plans.

“The feeling among villagers can best be described as despair,” he said. “It was a hard fight which we thought we had won. For Severn Trent Water to come back with something so remarkably similar has come as a shock to us.

“The decision by the council’s planning committee was very firm, so it seems Severn Trent’s perception of reality is distorted if they are coming back.”

Mr Cluff said the Wind Turbine Working Group would be reinstated after a committee meeting tonight.

Councillor Peter Barnes, chairman of the council’s planning committee, said when the committee turned down the plans: “We have got to look at somewhere in the borough where we can put these sorts of things in the right place. This one, in my opinion, is not in the right place.”

In a letter to the parish council, TNEI – agents for the previous application – wrote that Severn Trent Water was looking for ways to maximise renewable energy to minimise carbon emissions.

The agents are now inviting residents to give feedback on the plans at a public exhibition on July 20, at Burton Joyce Village Hall, Trent Lane, Burton Joyce, from 2pm to 8pm.

A Severn Trent spokeswoman said: “We are aware that wind-turbine projects are very sensitive and some of the community opposed our original plans, but through this public exhibition we hope to demonstrate that we have considered why the previous scheme was unacceptable and can present plans for a revised scheme that the wider community could support.”

URL to article:  https://www.wind-watch.org/news/2012/07/10/villagers-set-for-new-wind-turbine-battle/