August 20, 2013
England

Green plans may ‘blight’ Orston in Vale of Belvoir

BBC News | 20 August 2013 | www.bbc.co.uk

Campaigners have said plans for three green initiatives would blight their small Nottinghamshire village.

Proposals are being considered for two 74m (245ft) wind turbines and a solar farm near to the village of Orston in the Vale of Belvoir.

The Orston and Surrounding Villages against Turbines group (OSVAT) said the developments were too much for the village, which has a population of 450.

Rushcliffe Borough Council said it could not comment on the applications.

Lightsource, which is behind the planned solar farm, said the village would be able to use the renewable energy before it was distributed to other areas.

Conservation area

“One of the benefits of renewable energy is that it gets distributed at the closest points first, reducing the carbon footprint immensely for the local village or town first before it gets accessed by wider areas.

“This reduces the strain on the National Grid infrastructure and some areas with really aged networks that may experience power cuts will see improvements,” a spokesperson for the firm said.

Plans for the solar farm include 48,000 solar panels.

OSVAT chairman David Morris said: “We are not against green energy but it must be the right thing in the right place. To have two huge wind turbines looming over the village will close businesses and blight the area.

“We are here to give a voice to the many people living in Orston and across the Vale of Belvoir who are not being listened to.”

The Orston village lies within a conservation area which is thought to have been occupied since at least 1000 BC.

Hallmark Power, which plans to build one of the wind turbines near Spa Lane said it acknowledged that the proposed turbine “was considered to be controversial and that there was local opposition”.

“However, it is considered that any potential harm will be limited in nature and extent and will be clearly outweighed by the ‘green’, sustainable benefits of the renewable energy that will be generated,” a spokesperson for the firm said.

URL to article:  https://www.wind-watch.org/news/2013/08/20/green-plans-may-blight-orston-in-vale-of-belvoir/