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Campaigners seek turbine plans pay-out 

Credit:  Western Daily Press | November 5, 2012 | www.thisissomerset.co.uk ~~

Landowners and developers behind a large wind farm may face a collective legal challenge from homeowners to seek compensation for devalued properties.

Energy company RWE Npower Renewables was given consent to build nine giant turbines at Batsworthy Cross, Devon, last month. A planning inspector reversed an earlier council decision to turn down the plans.

Campaigners and their legal team are now scrutinising the decision and say they are considering an application to the High Court to quash the ruling on a point of law. Failing that, people living near the site, close to Exmoor National Park, are looking at taking action if house prices are badly affected.

An estate agency in the area claimed property sales have stalled in the surrounding villages since the renewable energy plant was announced and said there is concern the area could be “blighted”.

Anita Allen, who owns the, Grade II*listed Shapcote Barton Estate, at East Knowstone, around two miles from the site, fears a large chunk of the value of her £1 million-plus property could be wiped if turbines are built.

Mrs Allen, whose 200-acre mediaeval estate includes national plant collections, said affected residents could join forces and make a claim for damages. She added: “It is a possibility though of course legal costs are expensive – there may be a chance of the whole community doing it collectively – it is something we have to look into. A lot of properties around here are large and worth a lot of money – a listed building like this needs a lot of expensive maintenance and if it is devalued part of our national heritage will fall into disrepair.”

The Batsworthy Cross application was the first of four in the Knowstone area, in 2006, and the only one to be approved. Opponents thought they had seen off the proposal when planners at North Devon District Council turned it down but after an appeal and a public enquiry this year the refusal was overturned.

Bob Barfoot, chairman of the Campaign for the Protection of Rural England in North Devon said he was hopeful a legal challenge could be mounted before the deadline in four weeks, adding that experts were “considering every single word” of the inspector’s report.

RWE Npower Renewables says the scheme, with its capacity of 18 megawatts – enough clean energy to supply 8,700 homes – will provide the local community with a windfall of £18,000 per year over 25 years with local people having a say on how it would be spent. Lewis Elder, the firm’s renewables developer, said: “We are very pleased that the planning inspector has agreed with us that this is an appropriately sited and designed wind farm.”

Source:  Western Daily Press | November 5, 2012 | www.thisissomerset.co.uk

This article is the work of the source indicated. Any opinions expressed in it are not necessarily those of National Wind Watch.

The copyright of this article resides with the author or publisher indicated. As part of its noncommercial educational effort to present the environmental, social, scientific, and economic issues of large-scale wind power development to a global audience seeking such information, National Wind Watch endeavors to observe “fair use” as provided for in section 107 of U.S. Copyright Law and similar “fair dealing” provisions of the copyright laws of other nations. Send requests to excerpt, general inquiries, and comments via e-mail.

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