February 24, 2014
England

Wind farm scheme proposal for former wartime airfield site

Sleaford Standard | 24 February 2014 | www.sleafordstandard.co.uk

A new campaign group has been set up by residents in response to another proposed wind farm development – less than a mile from one already proposed near a Sleaford area village.

A five wind turbine project is proposed by RWE NPower Renewables at Temple Hill near Brandon and Caythorpe

A second development is now proposed by German company Energiekontor UK Ltd for land on the former RAF Fulbeck airfield.

Some of the affected parish councils were contacted over Christmas. The company had initially planned to meet with individual councils but now have opted for organising village hall community briefings.

The public exhibitions are to introduce the company, the development proposals and details of the community benefit fund. The first took place last Tuesday February 18 at Leadenham Village Hall. A second will be at Caythorpe Village Hall tomorrow (Tuesday February 25) from 5-8pm and a third will be at Stubton Village Hall on Thursday February 27 from 4-8pm.

According to its website, Energiekontor UK Ltd is investigating the potential for a wind farm development of up to 13 wind turbines, each up to 126.5m in height to blade tip.

In addition the development will consist of turbine transformers; turbine foundations; hard-standing areas for erecting cranes at each turbine location; a series of on-site tracks connecting each of the turbines to the grid connection; an on-site substation; and a new site access onto Stragglethorpe Lane.

It is likely that the development would provide up to 32.5MW of generating capacity.

The wind farm would be operational for a period of up to 25 years, after which the turbines would be decommissioned and the site restored. In December 2013 the company submitted a Scoping Report to South Kesteven District Council and North Kesteven District Council.

The purpose of the Scoping Report is to formally request the scoping opinions of both local authorities in accordance with the Town and Country Planning (Environmental Impact Assessment) Regulations 2013. Scoping is used to help identify where there is potential for interactions between a project and the environment. It allows an applicant to be clear which of these a local authority considers to be the main effects and on which the Environmental Impact Assessment should focus.

Hugh Wilson of Stubton parish council said: “We have no option but to attend the open session being run by Energiekontor. We have found these to be unsatisfactory in the past, as the developers tend to put effort into pushing their community fund, rather than answering the real concerns of residents. We will attempt to fulfil our duty to our parishioners and try to have a Parish Council meeting with Mr Briggs (from Energiekontor).”

VETO (Voters for Energy Turbine Opposition) is a campaign group formed by residents impacted by the proposal to construct a wind

URL to article:  https://www.wind-watch.org/news/2014/02/24/wind-farm-scheme-proposal-for-former-wartime-airfield-site/