Over 700 Say No!
With Wychavon’s Planning Department still posting details of all the letters of Objjction and Support for the ScottishPower Renewables proposed industrial wind power station, it will be some time before the final count is in.
To date more than 700 individually written letters of objection have been sent to the council with over 95 % of them coming from local residents, yet less than 30 letters of support have been sent in, with a very significant proportion being from people that don’t live locally!
The Message to Wychavon Councillors and Planners is Clear!
This development is not wanted!
Apart from the arguments about ineffectiveness which are well proven (See The Wind Farm Scam (Independent Minds) by John Etherington), the massive destruction of the visual amenity value of the area, and clear breaches of Planning Policy, the Councillors and Planners have a clear mandate to refuse this planning application.
This mandate is also underwritten by the Government’s policy that planning applications of this nature should not be forced through against the wishes of the local community.
So, a big thank you to all of you that took the time and effort to put your own thoughts and feelings down on paper, you all made great points, and it all helps to get the message over to the planners and councillors.
Over 400 letters were delivered in just one batch and more than 300 others have been individually posted.
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.’
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.
