October 14, 2012
England

North Norfolk District Council re-examines planning policy on wind turbines

Eastern Daily Press | 14 October 2012 | www.edp24.co.uk

A growing number of applications for wind turbines has prompted North Norfolk District Council (NNDC) to take a fresh look at its planning policy.

Officers are to prepare a report for councillors about the cumulative impact of wind turbines which it is thought could become an issue in the future.

Since October 2010 NNDC has considered 27 applications for wind turbines.

Of these, 21 were determined by officers under delegated powers and six were considered by members of the council’s development committee.

Committee members had asked officers to report to their meeting on Thursday about a possible change to the established Scheme of Delegation so that in future all wind turbine applications would be determined by councillors and not officers.

But Steve Oxenham, head of development management, has reported that this would seem illogical as developments such as telecommunications masts, supermarkets and solar farms could be determined using delegated powers.

He added that if there were significant technical objections to a turbine application it would be refused by officers under delegated powers anyway.

Turbines up to 11.1m tall were permitted development and it would seem illogical if something slightly taller but uncontested had to be considered by committee.

URL to article:  https://www.wind-watch.org/news/2012/10/14/north-norfolk-district-council-re-examines-planning-policy-on-wind-turbines/