March 12, 2013
England

Bicton wind farm plans resubmitted by rejected firm

BBC News | 12 March 2013 | www.bbc.co.uk

A year after a government planning inspector rejected proposals for a wind farm in west Cambridgeshire, revised plans are to be submitted.

Broadview Energy’s original plans for four 410ft-high (125m) turbines at Bicton were criticised for having a “distracting and alien impact”.

The company now wants to build three turbines and said its revised proposal would address earlier concerns.

Campaigners said the farm would still have a “hugely dominating effect”.

Broadview submitted its initial planning application to Huntingdonshire District Council in July 2010.

This was refused in January 2011 and the company’s subsequent appeal to the government’s planning inspectorate was dismissed in March 2012.

‘Significant impact’

Tom Cosgrove, Broadview project manager, said: “We have taken the time to analyse the inspector’s report and seek advice from a range of independent experts, which has led to the decision to redesign the proposed wind farm.

“We have reduced the number of turbines from four to three and relocated them to positions that are more sympathetic to both the local environment and the requirements of local planning policy.”

However, residents of villages including Kimbolton, Tilbrook and Stow Longa have again raised concerns about the effect it might have on property prices and the landscape.

Others were in favour, with one resident telling the BBC: “It would fill me with joyous feelings to see clean energy being produced on my doorstep.”

Members of the Stop Bicton Wind Farm group, formed in 2009, say they “do not oppose wind energy” and “broadly support [wind farms] when built in the right places”.

However, campaigner Amy Howard, said: “Three turbines on top of a hill will still have a significant impact.

“They will have a hugely dominating effect on the valley they would overlook.”

Broadview Energy is holding a public meeting in Kimbolton on 26 March to discuss the revised plans.


URL to article:  https://www.wind-watch.org/news/2013/03/12/bicton-wind-farm-plans-resubmitted-by-rejected-firm/