How to Object to the Planning Application
Attached is some guidance for writing a letter of objection to the turbine proposal from SPR.
There is a lot of information, you do not need to include all of it.
They key thing is that there are only certain reasons that can be used for an objection to be valid so please read the model letter carefully.
Most important is to just put in a few comments about the topics that are of most concern to you.
It is important that you get your letter written before July 23rd and to us (or posted to Wychavon) by July 24th
Objections are valid for each and every house member over the age of 16.
So please remember to send a separate letter from each and everyone over 16. Each one counts separately. If you sign the letter jointly, it only counts as one.
Also remember to ask your family, friends and neighbours to do the same.
To ensure that letters are properly counted by Wychavon we have arranged for you to be able to drop the letters off locally and we will then take them to Wychavon and get a receipt for it.
‘Right Click’ and ‘Save As’ : Objection Template Letter for the Planning Application
If you wish to object online, go here (Click on ‘Comment on Application’, then remember to select the ‘Object’ radio button)
http://bit.ly/ObjectToPlanningApplication
Our local letter drops are:
Driftway, Evesham Road, Church Lench (Through the door NOT the outside letter box) and
The Old Chapel, Atch Lench, WR11 4SW (in the box on the wall)
If you need your letter collected please let us know – call Rod on 07929 671019 or your village rep click here: Village Reps
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Many thanks for your support.
Kind regards,
Rod Stroud and The VVASP team.
New Bill That Defines Minimum Distances from Turbines to Homes starts its progress through Parliament
A new Private Members’ Bill had its first formal reading in the House of Lords yesterday (26 July 2010)
To be known as the “Wind Turbines (Minimum Distances from Residential Premises) Act 2010”, it makes provision for a minimum distance between wind turbines and residential premises according to the size of the wind turbine; and for connected purposes.
In essence, it says that
No relevant authority may grant planning permission for the construction of a wind turbine generator unless it meets the minimum distance requirement.
unless
“The owners of ALL residential premises which fall within the minimum distance requirement for the proposed wind turbine generator MUST AGREE IN WRITING to the construction of the wind turbine generator.” Also small turbines under 25m to highest blade tip are exempt.
and it sets out those distances as:
If the height of the wind turbine generator is
(a) greater than 25m, but does not exceed 50m, the minimum distance requirement is 1000m;
(b) greater than 50m, but does not exceed 100m, the minimum distance requirement is 1500m;
(c) greater than 100m, but does not exceed 150m, the minimum distance requirement is 2000m;
(d) greater than 150m, the minimum distance requirement is 3000m.
In essence this would put an immediate stop to the proposal of ScottishPower Renewables to construct 415 ft (40 storey high) alien structures in the Vale.
You can access the bill directly from the Government sited dedicated to this bill here: Click Here
Or download the bill from here: Right Click and ‘Save As’
The Department of Energy and Climate Change has commissioned fresh research on wind farm noise
“Confidence has been lost in the ETSU model”
4th June 2010
See original post here: http://www.cieh.org/ehn/ehn3.aspx?id=31194
The Department of Energy and Climate Change has commissioned fresh research on wind farm noise. The move, which has been welcomed by the Chartered Institute of Environmental Health (CIEH) , comes despite ministerial assurances earlier this year that there were no plans to change the existing guidance on assessing and rating wind farm noise.
The guidance has become increasing controversial. Howard Price, CIEH principal policy officer, said: ‘The guidance currently in use, ETSU-R-97, is now more than 13 years old. It was developed before the current generation of large turbines began to be built and has had to modified unofficially in practice.’
Mr Price said that, despite its limitations, the guidance is referred to in the draft national policy statement for renewable energy, released last November. As an official consultee, the CIEH warned that future decisions based on ETSU would be unsafe.
Former energy minister, Lord Hunt, wrote last October in support of the use of ETSU-R-97 and junior minister David Kidney repeated in February that it gave ‘a reasonable degree of protection to wind farm neighbours’.
However, said Mr Price, it seems officials were already drafting specifications for new research. Two research tenders, one to analyse how noise impacts of wind farms are considered in planning and another to reassess the evidence base on reported noise complaints, were issued before the general election.
Mr Price added: ‘Confidence has been lost in the ETSU model and it is good that this has now been recognised. ‘Neither the government nor the energy providers could afford to risk planning consents being overturned because they were based on inadequate guidance. Hopefully, something everyone agrees on will emerge soon.’
Power to the People!
In a recent communication from Eric Pickles. he has once again brought the sense of reason to Local Government.
Below are extracts from his letter to a coalition MP’s
From: Rt Hon Eric Pickles MP
Secretary of State for Communities & Local Government
6 July 2010
Dear Colleague,
Abolition of Regional Planning
“I am today abolishing the bureaucracy of regional planning, revoking the red tape of Regional Strategies that envelop councils across England outside London.
John Prescott’s legacy of Regional Strategies added unnecessary bureaucracy to the planning system. They were a failure. They were expensive and time-consuming. They alienated people, pitting them against development instead of encouraging people to build in their local area.”
it goes on to say:
“Our new planning system will be clear, efficient and will put greater power in the hands of local people, rather than unelected regional bodies”
and furthermore:
“Moving forward, we will make it easier for local councils, working with their communities, to agree and amend local plans in a way that maximises the involvement of neighbourhoods.”
So what does this mean to you and me?
It means that if you are affected by a planning application your view counts more than someone who is not affected by it!
Eric Pickles puts stop to flawed Regional Strategies
Eric Pickles puts stop to flawed Regional Strategies today
Published
6 July 2010
Local Government Secretary Eric Pickles is today putting a swift end to Whitehall’s grip on local planning policy by scrapping Regional Strategies and their centrally imposed building targets that failed to increase housebuilding.
Regional targets intended to build 3 million homes nationally by 2020 were put in place by the previous Government despite fears that they would force councils to cut into the Greenbelt. However, the reality is that construction has slowed down so much the country is facing the lowest peacetime housebuilding rates since 1924.
An order laid in parliament today will revoke Regional Strategies with immediate effect. Councils will now have the freedom to prepare their local plans without having to follow top-down targets from regional quangos and bureaucrats that prescribe exactly what, where and when to build.
Mr Pickles also pledged that direct and substantial benefits for councils who support construction would be the centrepiece of this radical restoration of local power. The money will be used to help ensure more new homes are built for local people, and matched with more new jobs and investment.
From today, power will be handed back to councils and communities to make their own decisions on planning that can get the country building again. Communities will, once again, be able to solve local housing challenges in a way that makes sense for them. In return councils will be offered powerful new incentives that ensure they benefit from development they welcome.
Communities and Local Government Secretary Eric Pickles said:
"Communities will no longer have to endure the previous government’s failed Soviet tractor style top-down planning targets – they were a terrible, expensive, time-consuming way to impose house building and worst of all threatened the destruction of the Green Belt.
"I promised to get rid of them and today I’m revoking regional plans with immediate effect – hammering another nail in the coffin of unwanted and an unaccountable regional bureaucracy. They were a national disaster that robbed local people of their democratic voice, alienating them and entrenching opposition against new development.
"Regional Strategies built nothing but resentment – we want to build houses. So instead we will introduce powerful new incentives for local people so they support the construction of new homes in the right places and receive direct rewards from the proceeds of growth to improve their local area."
Mr Pickles made the announcement in a keynote speech to the Local Government Association conference where he told Town Halls they were back in charge of local affairs.
Councils will now be free to protect Green Belt surrounding 30 towns across the country. The targets system forced them to redraw Green Belt boundaries and designate large areas of countryside for new development. Communities will now have the power to prevent encroachment on the Green Belt and decide themselves where they want to build.
Decentralisation Minister Greg Clark said:
"Today is another significant step in the Coalition Government’s drive to transfer powers from remote bureaucracies to local communities. Regional edicts, which allowed communities no say, injected poison into the planning system which stymied development. By allowing communities to shape their neighbourhoods and to share in the benefits, we are beginning to restore the idea that development can be a force for good, rather than something to be resisted at all costs."
Notes to editors
1. Communities Secretary Eric Pickles confirmed today in a Written Parliamentary Statement that Regional Strategies will be revoked with immediate effect, as set out in the Coalition Agreement. In the longer term the legal basis for Regional Strategies will be abolished through the Localism Bill that will be introduced in the current Parliamentary session. A copy of the written statement can be found at: www.communities.gov.uk/statements/newsroom/regionalstrategies.
2. Regional Strategies have been revoked through Section 79 (6) of The 2009 Local Democracy, Economic Development and Construction Act. Accompanying the Parliamentary Statement is guidance for Local Authorities that covers the period between the revocation of Regional Strategies and legislation to abolish them altogether. A copy of the statement and guidance can be found at: www.communities.gov.uk/publications/planningandbuilding/letterregionalstrategies.
3. The abolition of regional strategies provides a clear signal of the importance attached to the development and application of local spatial plans, in the form of Local Development Framework Core Strategies and Development Plan Documents. Local plans drawn up with the help of the community will become the basis for local planning decisions, and future reform will make it easier for local councils to agree and amend local plans with their local community, in a way that maximises the involvement of neighbourhoods. The introduction of incentives to replace building targets will be a top priority for the new Government and take place early in the spending review.
4. Towns and areas that were planning to make Green Belt cuts and reviews because of Whitehall-imposed targets will now be able to make their own decisions where new development is built. They include: Bath, Bedworth, Bournemouth, Bristol, Bromsgrove, Broxbourne, Cheltenham, Chertsey, Coventry, Gloucester, Guildford, Harlow, Hatfield, Hemel Hempstead, Leeds, Lichfield, Maidenhead, Newcastle-under-Lyme, Nottingham, Nuneaton, Oxford, Redditch, Redhill, Reigate, Rushcliffe, Stevenage, Solihull, Tunbridge Wells, Welwyn, and Woking and Worcester and in West Yorkshire beyond Leeds.
