Councillors raise concerns over wind turbine development

11:00am Tuesday 12th March 2013 in News By Samantha Harman

AGAINST: Richard Slocock and other protesters of the Tolpuddle campaign against wind turbine proposals AGAINST: Richard Slocock and other protesters of the Tolpuddle campaign against wind turbine proposals

FEARS have been raised by councillors over a wind turbine development that could lead to ‘open season’ for Dorset.

Puddletown parish councillors voiced strong concerns at a meeting over the proposed nine-turbine complex.

It is proposed for farmland south west of Milborne St Andrew, north of Tolpuddle and north east of Puddletown.

Unanimously objecting to the West Dorset Wind Farm, they said it would impact on tourism, local amenities and travel.

A ‘punchy’ letter addressing the concerns will be sent to West Dorset District Council, which will decide whether the West Coast Energy development will go ahead.

Jan Hopkin, councillor for Tolpuddle, said the turbines would have an ‘unacceptable and overbearing impact on the landscape’.

She added: “Our village has conservation value, with several listed buildings, visited by thousands of tourists and school groups.

“We do not want the backdrop of an industrial icon.”

She raised concerns that, after the proposed 25 years, concrete and cabling would be left in situ, leaving a permanent legacy on the landscape.

She asked: “Will this proposal, if accepted, lead to open season and further industrialisation to this part of Dorset?”

Richard Slocock is chairman of the Tolpuddle Against Industrial Turbines (Taint) group.

He told councillors: “There is very strong feeling in this village overwhelmingly against this proposal.”

West Coast Energy has said that if planning permission is granted, the community will receive 10 percent of the net profit.

But villagers raised concerns that the ‘community benefit’ is not expected to kick in until year 15 of the 25-year scheme.

Others said they believed the turbines would actually have a detrimental effect.

Councillor Patrick Cooke, of Athelhampton House, said: “I will do anything I can to resist this.”

He added that he had no problem with a property having a domestic turbine, but that the villagers could not be sure of any benefit they would receive from the industrial wind farm.

He said: “I don’t know why we have to put up with something like this just to add energy into the national grid.”

Chairman Stephen Buck added: “You can see these things from 20 miles away – the site would be 120 metres high.

“It would be a total desecration to this area.

“It would ruin an awful lot of Dorset, you would be able to see them from Portland, Bere Regis – anywhere with any height.”

Turbines to supply 12,000 homes

WEST Coast Energy proposes to install nine wind turbines which it says will generate clean green electricity to meet the annual domestic needs of 12,000 homes.

It estimates the wind farm could displace around 635,000 tonnes of CO2 that would otherwise be produced using fossil fuels.

The proposals also include a wind monitoring mast, substation building, formation of a new entrance to the A35, internal access tracks and a temporary construction compound.

Comments(13)

Crimbo says...
11:53am Tue 12 Mar 13

There's already one sited south of Milborne, not as high though, and one north of Milborne above Milton Abbas. Neither are as high, but neither are particularly intrusive.
I don't want huge turbines on my doorstep, but neither do I want a nuclear, oil, coal, or gas-fired power station either; however I do want electricity to power my computer-powered lifestyle.
So of all the alternatives I'd sooner have a turbine farm down the road than a power blackout.

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LittleMissCleverClogs says...
12:09pm Tue 12 Mar 13

Look at all those silver foxes in the anti-group! They don't represent the majority of people in their communities, most of whom don't have the time to dedicate to fighting progress. Wind energy is fantastic, we need more of it and Dorset is woefully behind on keeping up with the rest of modern life. Bring on the wind farm!

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IDONTKNOWIFITISTRRUE says...
12:25pm Tue 12 Mar 13

The people writing in support of wind turbines perhaps don't realise how inefficient they are and how expensive they are to build and maintain. The costs of them are subsidised by our current and future fuel bills. The profits from building and operating go abroad. Payments are made to the operators for them to be switched off when they produce too much electricity when the demand is low. Other generating sources need to be available to feed the grid when the turbines don't generate. The turbines have to be stopped if the wind is too strong. Think about the huge rise in demand when major sports and other events like TV shows end, will the wind suddenly start blowing?
I think that more investment should be directed at hydro and wave generation which could be more constant.

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Dorset Guy1 says...
12:54pm Tue 12 Mar 13

IDONTKNOWIFITISTRRUE wrote:
The people writing in support of wind turbines perhaps don't realise how inefficient they are and how expensive they are to build and maintain. The costs of them are subsidised by our current and future fuel bills. The profits from building and operating go abroad. Payments are made to the operators for them to be switched off when they produce too much electricity when the demand is low. Other generating sources need to be available to feed the grid when the turbines don't generate. The turbines have to be stopped if the wind is too strong. Think about the huge rise in demand when major sports and other events like TV shows end, will the wind suddenly start blowing?
I think that more investment should be directed at hydro and wave generation which could be more constant.
I agree & still they are building Coal fired power stations in China which will clearly lead to their products still being even cheaper than those made in our high cost subsidised solution
Also why does it appear the site will be abandoned after 25 years or is this just a plot to get round planning of does someone know where else we will be getting our allbeit erratic supplies from after the 25 years are up Or if they have alredy given up or fallen down by then

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Caption Sensible says...
1:27pm Tue 12 Mar 13

With CO2 totalling 0.04% of the earth's atmosphere. Mankind contributing 3.3% to that, and global temperatures rising by a "massive" 0.08 degrees C over 17 years (source: Met Office)... Where is the runaway global warming?

Stop wetting the bed, be objective and get some real generating equipment built!!!

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shy talk says...
3:03pm Tue 12 Mar 13

If the government are serious about renewable energy. All new builds from now should be roofed with photovoltaic (PV) roof tiles. Expensive now but the price will come down when demand goes up. The householder can then generate their own electricity and what is not used is sold back to the grid.

Seven years ago I had 3KW PV panels fitted. It will take me another three years to recoup my outlay and then the system will pay for itself. The last two years I have not paid for any electricity. Due the electricity I do not use that I sell back to the grid that pays the bill. This all depends on your energy lifestyle.

Lets say every building is fitted with PV in the United Kingdom. The demand from the the utility company’s for electricity would go down and reduce the carbon footprint. And yes, to compensate for this because they are not making large profits. The price per unit will go up.

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mr commonsense says...
3:15pm Tue 12 Mar 13

Don't you just love the anti wind turbine lobby?
They talk about not wanting here because it will feed the National Grid that the idea. The Grid feeds the whole country and we all turn our lights on with electricity produced all over the UK.
The point Mr Slocock and his cohorts fail to realise is within 10 years the country will be no longer be self sufficient in energy production.
By all means turn the lights off then the Nimbies will be out in force demanding any form of energy production.
Another argument the anti brigade keep telling us is that wind is expensive in producing electricity. So is coal, very inefficient, nuclear the most expensive of all and costing billions to decommission out of date power stations and VERY dangerous, Japan, USA, Russia and more to come. Remember France is only 60 miles from Dorset.
Wind is but one solution but at least it is clean,harmless and for many of us beautiful compared to pylons, 1960's housing schemes, planning blight on lovely villages, fast food outlets etc etc.
BY the way if the anti brigade were really serious then they would campaign for every new house to have double glazing, thermal insulation, a small turbine, solar panels and builders would not be able to build without incorporating these features. Energy consumption would drop dramatically within a few short years. Instead of moaning come up with solutions .

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annotator1 says...
4:44pm Tue 12 Mar 13

Crimbo wrote:
There's already one sited south of Milborne, not as high though, and one north of Milborne above Milton Abbas. Neither are as high, but neither are particularly intrusive.
I don't want huge turbines on my doorstep, but neither do I want a nuclear, oil, coal, or gas-fired power station either; however I do want electricity to power my computer-powered lifestyle.
So of all the alternatives I'd sooner have a turbine farm down the road than a power blackout.
A blackout is preferred to nuclear power? How short sighted.
Wind turbines, I agree, are the least efficient and tend to fail prematurely. Nuclear on the other hand is quite safe and is very efficient. Unfortunately there is the issue with the waste material but that is the only issue.

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I'mavoter says...
6:11pm Tue 12 Mar 13

LittleMissCleverClog
s wrote:
Look at all those silver foxes in the anti-group! They don't represent the majority of people in their communities, most of whom don't have the time to dedicate to fighting progress. Wind energy is fantastic, we need more of it and Dorset is woefully behind on keeping up with the rest of modern life. Bring on the wind farm!
Where do you live ??

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caz maz says...
1:34am Wed 13 Mar 13

Not so clever Little Miss Clever Clogs! You will find this photo was taken during a working day when the younger people of the group will have been working, I thank the "silver foxes" as you so rudely put it for representing Me and my young family as well as many other young people in the area when we could not make it.
There are many alternatives to wind turbines that could be placed in this area without destroying the picturesque views of Dorset If we can put panels on roofs we can put them in fields, these would not be seen for miles around. But sadly we have a rich "poor farmer" that wants to turn a quick buck so will rent his fields to house these monstrosities and doesn't give a **** about the local community. We live in lovely Dorset where we have more sun than wind!

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IDONTKNOWIFITISTRRUE says...
1:52am Wed 13 Mar 13

In the news today was a report which said that there will need to be increases in costs to get the electricity from these wind or solar panel 'farms' to the nearest point of the National Grid transmission wires.
It is no good sticking a wind farm or a field of solar panels out in 'the sticks' if it can't easily and cheaply be connected to potential users of any generated electricity and the further the wind farm is from the grid, the more power is lost in transmission.

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JamesYoung says...
11:44am Mon 18 Mar 13

LittleMissCleverClog
s wrote:
Look at all those silver foxes in the anti-group! They don't represent the majority of people in their communities, most of whom don't have the time to dedicate to fighting progress. Wind energy is fantastic, we need more of it and Dorset is woefully behind on keeping up with the rest of modern life. Bring on the wind farm!
Wind energy is not fantastic.
As with everything related to the green lobby, the truth is hidden behind layers of exaggeration and myth.

I'd recommend reading the below with an open mind. It's hard going but it explains why wind power won't solve our problems.

http://www.windenerg
y-the-truth.com/inho
ud.html

Unfortunately the reality is that coal, oil, gas and nuclear power are the only viable options for Britain

Report this post »

monkeydog says...
4:17pm Mon 18 Mar 13

JamesYoung wrote:
LittleMissCleverClog

s wrote:
Look at all those silver foxes in the anti-group! They don't represent the majority of people in their communities, most of whom don't have the time to dedicate to fighting progress. Wind energy is fantastic, we need more of it and Dorset is woefully behind on keeping up with the rest of modern life. Bring on the wind farm!
Wind energy is not fantastic.
As with everything related to the green lobby, the truth is hidden behind layers of exaggeration and myth.

I'd recommend reading the below with an open mind. It's hard going but it explains why wind power won't solve our problems.

http://www.windenerg

y-the-truth.com/inho

ud.html

Unfortunately the reality is that coal, oil, gas and nuclear power are the only viable options for Britain
Halkema's piece was published by Country Guardian which campaigns against windfarms. This isn't perfect but it tries to be balanced - http://alternativeen
ergy.procon.org/view
.answers.php?questio
nID=001277

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