May 10, 2013
Australia

Frost blows hard on wind

Yass Tribune | May 10, 2013 | www.yasstribune.com.au

Yass Valley deputy mayor Geoff Frost gave an impassioned speech at the last council meeting over concerns regarding wind turbines.

He had placed before council a Notice of Motion that included seven reasons why council should let state and federal governments know it is opposed to the developments.

“There are seven different issues that I think are a problem for wind farms,” he told the meeting.

“Fire risk and the non-use of aerial support is a major issue.

“As well, they dominate the landscape and reduce the visual amenity.

“Those hills are my hills,” Cr Frost said, referring to the wind farms near Boorowa Road where he grew up.

He also claimed that the historical significance of the area would be degraded and devalued, affecting tourism potential.

All of these issues combined would have an impact on housing prices, Cr Frost said.

“Every person will look at the list of things that may go wrong and, to avoid trouble, will go and buy somewhere else.

“Even if people only ‘believe’ there are health concerns, it’s a problem.

The second-term councillor could also see problems for council ahead, as construction of the wind farms put pressure on local infrastructure.

“We [council] have been taken out of the loop. We have no mechanism to claim compensation for our roads.

“It’s up to us to represent our community and say we don’t want these.”

In the end, and after much discussion, Cr Frost’s motion was not put to a formal vote. Instead, councillors resolved that the matter ‘lay on the table’ until the May general council meeting, to enable further investigation. In the mean time, councillors asked for a report to be provided on the issue of wind turbines in bush-fire prone areas, and for a representative of the Rural Fire Service to be invited to speak at the May meeting.


URL to article:  https://www.wind-watch.org/news/2013/05/10/frost-blows-hard-on-wind/