May 28, 2015
England

Appeal for wind turbine plans meets resistance

By Josh Thomas | Haverhill Echo | 28 May 2015 | www.haverhillecho.co.uk

Plans to erect a wind turbine at Nosterfield End have been likened to a zombie by a county councillor after they were resurrected earlier in the month.

Plans to build the 500kw turbine near Ladygate wood have been rejected in the past with councillors and residents’ associations voicing their opposition to the idea.

But the decision to reject the application is now being appealed on behalf of the land owner, James Sills, who hopes to be successful.

A spokesman for Haverhill Town Council said that they intended to uphold their previous objections to the proposals.

“It’s like a zombie,” said Haverhill councillor, Julian Flood. “You think it’s gone away and it just keeps coming back.”

Cllr Flood is objecting to the wind turbine plans on the basis that is could endanger the environment and may be harmful to a rare species of bat which lives in the area.

He also said he was concerned that the cost of building the infrastructure could disproportionately affect the elderly or the vulnerable who may use more energy.

He said: “A wind turbine produces expensive subsidised energy, and the power companies are forced to take it. The cost is passed directly to consumers.

“The old, the poor and the sick spend a larger proportion of their income on energy and this means that they are, because of bad government policy, bearing more than their fair share of the cost of the green initiative.

“Money is transferred from those who can least afford it to incentivise less than optimum investments in environmental terms.”

The turbine could, however, help with the long-term creation of sustainable energy, reducing reliance on non-renewable sources.

A spokesman for the planning inspectorate said a decision would be made soon.

URL to article:  https://www.wind-watch.org/news/2015/05/28/appeal-for-wind-turbine-plans-meets-resistance/