October 25, 2013
England

Wind farm opposition disputes £1.8m benefit to community

Grantham Journal | 24 October 2013 | www.granthamjournal.co.uk

The gloves are already off in what is likely to be a bitter battle over a planning application for five wind turbines north of Grantham.

The turbines, each standing 126.5m from base to blade tip, are proposed to be built between Stubton and Brandon at Temple Hill.

Sarah Lee of RWE npower renewables said: “We believe this is an excellent location for a wind farm, benefitting from good wind speeds and road access, and a suitable connection to the National Grid.”

RWE is trumpeting potential benefits to the local community of up to £1.8 million but the claim has received short shrift from reVOLT, the campaign group.

A spokesman for reVOLT said: “Whilst £1.8m is a headline grabbing figure, the community benefit fund is actually paid for by the green energy subsidies added to all our household fuel bills, not out of any sense of RWE being ‘responsible’.

“This fund would be spread across a very wide area over the 25 year lifetime of the wind farm – as such it actually only equates to a few pence per household per week and there is no compensation at all for the actual residents whose homes and lives would be blighted by the wind farm.”


URL to article:  https://www.wind-watch.org/news/2013/10/25/wind-farm-opposition-disputes-1-8m-benefit-to-community/