‘All those creatures are going to be decimated’ – anger over Lancashire’s controversial offshore wind farm plans 

Fylde residents have expressed their anger over controversial plans for two proposed windfarms which they say will cause disruption to homes and businesses.

The two windfarms, located in the Irish Sea, will be linked by miles of cables to a substation in Penwortham, dubbed the ‘Morgan and Morecambe’ project. As this cable corridor has been likened to being ‘wider than the M55’, many residents are concerned about the affects it will have on businesses and homes across towns and village such as St Annes, Wrea Green, Kirkham, Freckleton and Newton.

While residents say they are not opposed to the concept of green energy and the idea in theory, they are opposed to the route of the cabling and have set up their own protest group, ‘Against the Wind Farm Onshore Cable and Substation Plans across the Fylde’ to raise awareness and challenge the plans.

Farmers, homeowners, business owners and residents alike are all concerned about how the years of work to complete the cable corridor link will affect their lives.

Last week, the protest group set up their very own public meeting to discuss the matter and explain to concerned residents about the latest updates. At the meeting were residents of Fylde, including Deb and Rose Mary who expressed their own personal anger over the plans.

Rose lives in Starr Gate and wanted to organise a meeting on the beach, but no one came. She believes this is due to people in the area simply not knowing about what’s going to happen and not understanding the significant affect the plans will have on people’s every day lives.

Rose says she concerned with mobility if the plans go ahead, she said: “I’m disabled, more than you can tell by looking at me and I don’t drive.

“They’re going to close the station, the rail line along there. From where I live, I won’t be able to get in any direction – I might be able to get the tram if they keep that going to get into Blackpool, but I won’t be able to go the other way at all.

“A lot of people in my building, none of them and I was astonished, but none of them knew anything about it.”

Deb lives in Squires Gate in Blackpool and is concerned about how the plans will affect the beach opposite her home. “That’s going to be shut,” Deb explains.

“My daughter is kind of vulnerable, she’s got mental health issues and runs on the beach quite a lot. That being shut, it’s freaking her out already and she wakes up thinking about it.

“She understands the impact because we’ve looked.” Deb is also concerned about the nature reserve in the area which could be affected by building and constant disturbance whilst the plans are underway.

Deb added: “There’s burrowing animals, there’s a pond there with newts in. I’ve got hedgehogs in my garden, so there’s a hedgehog population in the area and they gather on to the dunes sometimes.

“All of those creatures, the birds, their habitats, are going to be absolutely decimated.”

Last month, LancsLive reported that the Planning Inspectorate announced it had accepted an application for a Development Consent Order (DCO) to connect two planned wind farms in the Irish Sea to the national grid at the Penwortham Substation. The scheme will now go to the next stage of the planning process.

Fylde Council have made their representations to the Planning Inspectorate known and have expressed concerns that the pre-application consultation was inadequate as it did not appear to include notification of all interested parties. The council also raised concerns over the level of detail available at the consultation stage was not sufficiently detailed to allow affected communities and other key stakeholders to make meaningful comments.

Denise King lives in Newton and is worried about what effects the plans are going to have on the surrounding area.

“It’s beautiful and quiet here, it’s a lovely village,” Denise told LancsLive. “We’re a lovely community and everybody helps each other and then you’re thrown into this.

“It’s also going to set a precedent this, it’s not just housing and schools and land, there’s nothing to stop them really. We’re just so far from London, I don’t think they really care.”

Although the proposals are in the name of green renewable energy, Denise argues that the very idea of the plans goes against this. She added: “How can it be? It’s affecting people’s lives and livelihoods. Is green energy more important than people? It would seem like it. Wind farms generally are a good idea, but they need to be put in a position where they don’t affect things like wildlife.”

Residents say they believe there is an alternative to the route, which won’t need to be built across the Fylde and instead could bypass much of the villages and towns, using Stanah, only around five kilometres inland, which will avoid much of the disruption. LancsLive has contacted Morgan and Morecambe for comment.