July 17, 2012
England

Ribble Valley residents’ anger at garden centre wind turbines bid

By Jessica Cree, Ribble Valley reporter | Lancashire Telegraph | www.lancashiretelegraph.co.uk 17 July 2012

A Ribble Valley garden centre has applied for planning permission to erect three wind turbines.

The 46-metre structures have been proposed by Andrew Donelan, owner of Carr Hall Home and Garden Centre, in Whalley Road, Wilpshire, in a bid to offset the site’s electricity usage.

But several residents have said they are opposed to the move branding the turbines “ugly monstrosities”.

Mr Donelan’s development plans are for elevated green belt land within the garden centre boundaries.

It is anticipated that the 50 kilowatt turbines will generate 600,000 kilowatt hours of energy each year, enough to power 120 homes.

Some of the energy from the turbines, which would be almost be the height of five double-decker buses, would be used onsite to offset grid electricity and the rest would be exported to the National Grid.

According to the application, the nearest homes are 340 metres away.

Thomas O’Kane, who lives in Lyndale Close, said he was concerned that he would be able to see the turbines from his home.

He said: “There is a time and a place for sticking turbines up and I can’t understand why they don’t put them in river estuaries.

“What a blot on the landscape they would be.”

Lewis Culshaw, who also lives close to the proposed site, in Sunnyside Avenue, said: “To mount these ugly monstr-osities in such a beautiful area will be wanton vandalism.

“To place such a blight on the landscape, spoiling a beautiful horizon, seen and enjoyed by many, will be madness.”

Coun Michael Ranson, leader of Ribble Valley Council, said: “I can see no benefit of wind turbines whatsoever.

“To have them this size near so many properties and near an area of natural beauty is just wrong.

“I don’t think they have any place in the Ribble Valley.”

No one from Carr Hall Home and Garden Centre was available for comment.

URL to article:  https://www.wind-watch.org/news/2012/07/17/ribble-valley-residents-anger-at-garden-centre-wind-turbines-bid/