July 23, 2013
England

Court upholds permission for wind turbine

Nottingham Post | July 23, 2013 | www.thisisnottingham.co.uk/

Councils opposed to plans for a 71-metre-high wind turbine to serve a Notts farm have lost their High Court challenge to the proposal.

Newark and Sherwood District Council and Epperstone Parish Council had hoped a government planning inspector’s decision to approve the turbine at Hill Farm, Chapel Lane, Epperstone, would be quashed.

The farm is owned by JS Peake & Sons.

The councils argued the turbine would harm the landscape and would not generate enough electricity to justify its environmental impact.

The district council had previously refused planning permission, before the farm owners appealed.

On appeal the inspector granted permission, finding that, while the turbine would reduce the openness of the Green Belt, its slender structure and relatively compact base meant that the effect would only be modest.

This led the councils to seek the High Court challenge.

However, Deputy Judge Stephen Morris, QC, sitting in London, rejected their grounds of challenge in the case.

He said: “The inspector did not fail to resolve the dispute as to amount.

“Secondly, the inspector took that amount of electricity into account as a positive factor in favour of the grant of planning permission and as outweighing, with other benefits, harm arising from the inappropriate development.

“The inspector added that even if only the lower amount were to be generated, this would not have changed her mind because government policy is that ‘any small amount’ can be sufficient.”

URL to article:  https://www.wind-watch.org/news/2013/07/23/court-upholds-permission-for-wind-turbine/