December 3, 2015
England

Giant wind turbine plan to be blocked

Lancashire Evening Post | 03 December 2015 | www.lep.co.uk

Plans for a 79-metre high wind turbine to power a water treatment plant in Lancashirelook set to be thrown out.

County councillors will be advised next week to reject anapplication for the turbine at Heysham because insufficient information has been submitted about its likely impact on the ecology of the area.

A report to the development control committtee on Wednesday will say the proposed turbine in Compression Road would generate enough electricity to meet three quarters of the treatment plant’s annual needs and reduce thecarbon dioxide emmissions by an estimated 622 tonnes a year.

But officers are advising members to reject it because “insufficient information has been submitted to enable LCC to carry out the necessary appropriate assessment to conclude that the propsed wind turbine would not give rise to a significant effect on . . . the Morecambe Bay Special Protection Area.

“In the absence of such information the applicant has not demonstrated that the proposal would not have an unacceptable impact on ecology.”

The treatment plant is sited on Heysham Business Park, near to the site of a former refinery/chemical works which is now designated as a biological heritage site for great crested newts and other animal and plant species. It is also around 400-metres from the Ocean Edge Caravan Park and Heysham Golf Course.

Advice to refuse it comes despite there already being four wind turbines in the vicinity and another at Heysham Port which has been recently granted planning permission.


URL to article:  https://www.wind-watch.org/news/2015/12/03/giant-wind-turbine-plan-to-be-blocked/