October 1, 2012
England

Poll: Fury erupts over wind turbine proposals for Ipswich

By Lauren Everitt | East Anglian Daily Times | October 1, 2012 | www.eadt.co.uk

Hundreds of furious residents have added their voice to the fight against controversial proposals to build two 130-metre wind turbines on their doorsteps.

Around 300 people turned out for an emergency meeting yesterday, organised by campaign group Stop Ipswich Turbines (SIT), to show their strength of feeling against the project.

Partnerships for Renewables is working with Ipswich Borough Council, which owns the land between Pinewood and Belstead, to site the pair of turbines.

Speaking at the meeting David Cobbold, chairman of Belstead Parish Council, said: “The turbines would be 13-metres tall and the span of the blades means you could sit a jumbo 747 plane within it.

“There are many problems associated with turbines but disturbance by noise is the main one with amplitude modulation, a pulsing sound, a factor.”

He added: “It’s bums on seats and names on paper that is going to count in our battle against this proposal.

“You are the most important asset in this and you must make your objections heard once an application is submitted.

“We in Belstead are close to the turbines but it is you in Ipswich who will be affected the most. It’s not going to be pleasant.”

Campaigners argue that the turbines would cause noise disturbance for local residents, landscape degradation and “flicker”.

Peter Evans, of SIT, said flicker – which is when the sun or moon is low in the sky and shines directly into houses from behind the moving blades – could be unbearable.

“Flicker is what a lot of people are going to be affected by,” he added. “We want to know who is going to be in the flicker zone.

“There’s also going to be a low volume noise which you can’t hear very well but could cause vibrations.”

Fellow SIT member Jenny Mills feared there will be problems caused to people’s health.

“It could be in the future that this is the asbestosis or smoking of our time. Who knows?” she added. “The trend is towards understanding there is a really big health issue here.

“We don’t know who will be affected in a 2km radius because that is the most commonly affected area according to previous experience in other locations.

“The distance here is proposed to be just 500m which just isn’t enough.”

At the meeting a petition was started against the proposals which will be presented to Ipswich Borough Council and plans to organise a protest in the town centre were discussed.

Alex Gordon, who lives in Belmont Road, said: “I completely object to the noise, the flicker and I certainly object to the expense these things cost in construction and for what they produce.

“It’s preposterous to put them in a green field site and they are going to turn the country into a power plant.”

A planning application is expected to be submitted at the end of the year or beginning of 2013.


URL to article:  https://www.wind-watch.org/news/2012/10/01/poll-fury-erupts-over-wind-turbine-proposals-for-ipswich/