August 14, 2014
England
England
Campaign group opposed to wind turbines vow to give doubters a sense of perspective by sending up blimp to 125m
Daniel Mansfield | Ely Standard | August 14, 2014 | www.elystandard.co.uk
Daniel Mansfield | Ely Standard | August 14, 2014 | www.elystandard.co.uk
Campaigners battling a proposal to erect three wind turbines in Haddenham will be flying a blimp close to the site over the weekend.
The Stop Berry Fen Wind Farm group will be flying the blimp up to 125m – the same height as REG Windpower intends to erect its wind turbines.
A planning application is currently being considered by East Cambridgeshire District Council.
The blimp is being supplied by Visual Reality, a company which provides the helium-filled balloons to anti-wind farm groups and environmental campaigners. The luminous orange blimp will measure almost 20ft in length and has had to be cleared for flight with the Civil Aviation Authority.
A spokesman for the group said: “People find it almost impossible to visualise the height of the turbines. Explaining that they will be twice the height of Ely Cathedral still does not convey the overpowering visual impact that they will have on the local area.
“Our blimp will go up to the height of the turbine blades, which is 125 metres or 410 feet, five times the height of the Haddenham-Wilburton ridge. We are confident that people who are not worried about this wind farm at the moment will have second thoughts when they see the blimp.
“The scale of the turbines is huge and totally out of keeping with this area of peaceful countryside. Because they are so massive, they will have a visual impact more than 25 kilometers away.”
The group hopes to keep the blimp up from 9 am until 5pm on Saturday and Sunday. Refreshments will be available at Aldreth Village Hall on Saturday from 1-4 pm and on Sunday from 11am-4pm.
The group is also asking people to take photos of the blimp from their homes to show how the turbines could affect them. The photos should be e-mailed – with the postcode of the location from which they were taken – to: info@stopberryfenwindfarm.org.uk