A wind turbine
Plans for two separate windfarms are being opposed by a national park authority and access campaigners.
The first, in south Wales, is for 19 turbines on Mynydd y Gwair Common, north of Swansea. The second is for five structures east of the Peak District National Park.
The Open Spaces Society is leading the opposition to the Mynydd y Gwair project. The society’s general secretary Kate Ashbrook said: “This is a wonderful open hillside, with spectacular views, where people roam freely enjoying the peace, tranquillity and exhilaration of the area.
“The wind turbines, with their associated paraphernalia of tracks, transformers, mast and substation, will urbanise and destroy the wildness of the site.
She said the hillside is particularly important, due to being so close to Swansea. She said it is the backdoor recreation ground for the city’s population.
“Furthermore, the land is registered common land,” Ms Ashbrook said. “People have a legal right both to walk and ride horses over every square inch of the common, not just on the paths. The turbines and other works will severely interfere with the public’s exercise and enjoyment of its rights, as well as with the rights of commoners to graze animals there.
“In any case, development cannot take place on common land without the consent of the Welsh Minister for Environment, Sustainability and Housing, under section 194 of the Law of Property Act 1925. We trust that consent would be refused because of the adverse effect on people’s enjoyment of the common.
“Indeed, a development of this scale on common land ought to be subject to the procedures for exchange land, requiring the developers to offer in exchange for the common to be taken land which is just as beneficial to the public. That, of course, would be an impossible task and would render the application dead in the water.
“For all these reasons we urge Swansea Council to reject this pernicious planning application and ensure that the spectacular Mynydd y Gwair Common remains intact for everyone to enjoy,” she added.
Meanwhile, the Peak District National Park Authority paid a site visit to Sheephouse Heights, between Penistone and Stocksbridge, 2.6km (1½ miles) outside the park’s eastern boundary. Barnsley Metropolitan Borough Council is due to hear an application for five 125m-high turbines on the site.
The national park’s planning committee recommends that the proposals be turned down. The committee chair Anne Ashe said: “Members of the committee felt that having five wind turbines at this location would have a dramatic effect on the wilderness on the edge of the national park.
“We do support renewable energy schemes and have approved several individual wind turbines in the past.
“But we have to look at these applications on a case-by-case basis to see what impact they will have, both individually and collectively. In this case we feel the impact would be too great.”
The area is becoming a hot spot for windfarms, with existing groups of turbines at Royd Moor and Hazlehead, with two further planned at Spicer Hill and Blackstone Edge.
Earlier this month, a planning inspector approved a windfarm at Carsington Pastures, near Ashbourne, which the national park authority also opposed because of the impact on the park’s special qualities.
But head of planning Bob Bryan said: “This is a totally different situation from Carsington, where there is a definite dividing line in landscape character along the national park boundary. At Sheephouse Heights there is a clear continuity – it is all part of the same landscape.”
The Sheephouse hearing is likely to take place early next year.
Culture Vulture
23 September 2008Wind farms are the future. We have to get used to it.
Mark Gibson
23 September 2008From where I sit I can see a single large wind turbine. It hasn't generated a single volt in over two years. It just about sums up the effectivness of wind power, it's a waste of time and tax payers money which drives the whole industry. Take away the huge payouts supplied by all of us and they're would be no wind power stations desoiling our landscape which is only just recovering from the blanket of smog and acid rain of the industrial age. There is no way we are going consume our way out of a national power shortage by but putting up a few hundred wind turbines. Insulate your home, turn off everything your not using and put a jumper on.
Culture Vulture
24 September 2008Mark Do you prefer the nuclear option?
Jonathan
24 September 2008Man-made climate change is the greatest global threat that we face today ! The UK has 40% of the European wind resource and yet we are falling way behind other countries when it comes to exploiting this truly sustainable from of energy, in 2007, the US installed 12 times more wind capacity than the UK and China 8 times and even France with its nuclear programme double our capacity. Wind power does work, bring it on !
Guest
24 September 2008Its only sustainable if the goverment forces the millions on low wages to fund wind power. Yes nuclear is going to be a major part of energy generation. Today EDF has bought all the Uk's nuclear power stations and we already importing nuclear generated from France. Have you guys any idea of the carbon footprint the the building of wind power station? Look it up.
Guest
25 September 2008In the local authority in which I live we have invested heavily in wind power. In one building the figures stated for power and energy for 30kW turbines are an expected production of 52000 kW of energy over the year (52000 kWyear) compared with a potential of 262800 kWyear (roughly 25%). As we know wind speed is highly variable and the energy generated appears on a graph as a series of stark spikes and troughs. This happens on even the windiest of days and with little energy being produced below Beaufort Scale Force 2 (1.8 - 3 m/s) and the gusty nature of the wind this leads to the spikes mentioned above. Above Beaufort 7 the turbines automatically shut down to prevent damage. Recent studies conducted with two of the largest wind farms in Europe (a hill site in Germany and an offshore site in Holland) have shown that as a result of this variable wind the guaranteed wind power capacity (measured in kWyears) is generally less than 10% of the potential maximum output. Even when networked the researchers were surprised to find these stark peaks and troughs persisted. The gap between the energy production needs and the energy output from the turbines has to be backed up by other means, currently conventional power stations. I understand these power stations need to be running at 90% capacity in order to maintain the energy needs. I also understand that the development off the Danish coast has run into problems with salt getting in to the turbines and the blades beccoming encrusted with salt affecting the stability of the blades. As to the latest figures from my local authority it seems that energy production has fallen well below the 25% anticipated and is in effect around 8% of the potential. The expected savings in CO2 has been negligible and that is withoput taking in to account the gap in energy being filled by conventional power stations. Wind power still has a long way to go.
The Piglit
25 September 2008Ironic isn't how environmentalists want to ruin the environment. Build the bloody things offshore or crack on with the nuclear programme
The Piglit
25 September 2008As totemic (literally?) as wind turbines are, there are better older, more consistent and less ugly alternatives who's ever heard of Salter's duck? http://www.technologystudent.com/energy1/tidal7.htm
Guest
26 September 2008[color=#000000][/color]Windfarms have nothing to do with environmentalism. Windfarms are basically about big business taking advantage of a subsidy-driven opportunity to make money. The people who build windfarms do not understand the adverse effects - destruction of wilderness land. Our best defence against climate change is (1) the preservation of wilderness land, which is a natural carbon sink, and (2) a reversal in the unsustainable growth in demand for energy. Unless the British people make a stand now against the industrialisation of our wilderness areas, we will witness an environmental crime on a par with the destruction of the Amazon rain forest.