March 6, 2015
England

Wind farm near Sleaford set to be rejected by councillors

Sleaford Target | March 06, 2015 | www.sleafordtarget.co.uk

Campaigners are poised to claim victory in a three-year battle against plans for a controversial wind farm development near Sleaford.

South Kesteven District Councillors have been recommended to reject a planning application from German developers RWE Innogy to put up five wind turbines at Temple Hill in Lincolnshire.

The turbines would measure 126.5m high – more than 40m higher than Lincoln Cathedral – and would be visible for more than 20 miles in all directions.

Residents’ community group reVOLT which has been campaigning against the wind farm application, which is the first of its kind in the district for more than a decade.

Paul Miley, reVOLT spokesman, said they are now hoping councillors follow the officers’ recommendation when the Development Control Committee meets on March 17 and reject the turbines.

He added: “Auditable surveys of local people, together with exit polls from the few RWE exhibitions match the significant and well-argued letters sent to the planning department – consistently 95 per cent of local residents believe this huge development is misplaced.

“It will harm local businesses, impact on the health of a number of vulnerable people and destroy a heritage landscape that has remained largely unchanged for centuries.

“Nothing in the hundreds of thousands of words submitted by RWE has addressed these concerns that the community raised from the outset.”

RWE produced a booklet last September which was distributed to approximately 3,000 households before they submitted a planning application for the wind farm and also invited residents to three information sessions in Caythorpe, Dry Doddington and Stubton about the proposed development.

Local residents were also given the opportunity to register for a free visit to an operational wind farm and the firm sought views on how the proposed community investment funding associated with Temple Hill could be spent, should the development receive planning consent.

Last year, the area’s features helped rank SKDC as one of the top 10 places to live in the UK by the Halifax Building Society.

A spokesman for RWE said: “We have submitted a planning application to SKDC which is to be looked at on March 17.”

URL to article:  https://www.wind-watch.org/news/2015/03/06/wind-farm-near-sleaford-set-to-be-rejected-by-councillors/