Plan to fix gap between wind farms and homes
A Westcountry council could be on course for a costly showdown with powerful energy companies as moves begin to prevent wind farms being built near homes and beauty spots.
Councillors in Cornwall are pushing to become only the second local authority in the country to create buffer zones around residential properties and areas of outstanding natural beauty (AONB).
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Cornwall councillors hope to create 'buffer zones' around protected areas
Fury over the number of applications for permission to erect turbines has prompted campaigners to consider fielding single-issue candidates in local elections.
Opponents of the technology say generous government subsidies have encouraged a rash of schemes in unsuitable locations and claim local authorities lack a coherent policy to prevent large plants being imposed on communities.
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Planning experts battling to halt developers say the idea of council policy setting a minimum distance from plants will be tested by a legal case next year. They say a judicial review of Milton Keynes Council's decision to create a separation zone of 2km between turbines and homes could be a landmark.
Scott Mann, councillor for Wadebridge and former deputy leader of the ruling Conservative group, said there was "no time to wait" for the case to be resolved.
He called for a one-mile exclusion zone for homes and a two-mile minimum distance to AONBs to be enshrined in the council's strategic plan for the next 20 years.
"If we write a woolly document which says very little about where we want turbines located, we lay ourselves open to having them everywhere," he said.
"If the inspector says that is unacceptable then I am prepared to test the policy to destruction – I have a lot of support in my own group and other members are now saying I am on the right track."
So far, no council in the South West has imposed a buffer zone – permission for schemes hinges on whether an individual turbine meets the so-called Lavender test, named after a ruling by planner David Lavender at a public inquiry.
He said turbines should be refused only if they "represent an unpleasantly overwhelming and unavoidable presence" in main views from a house or garden.
But only if the property becomes "widely regarded as an unattractive and unsatisfactory place to live" should a scheme be rejected.
A recent report by industry body Regen South urged councils not to bow to pressure to create buffer zones. It said policies that put "whole areas of land off limits" without assessing specific local circumstances were in conflict with national policy and could "result in communities losing out on the chance to host their own turbines".
Bob Barfoot, North Devon chairman for the Campaign for the Protection of Rural England (CPRE), is assisting with a High Court challenge to nine turbines at Batsworthy Cross. He regards the Lavender test as "too extreme" and thinks the distance has got to depend on the size of the turbine and other factors such as topography. But he thinks it is prudent to await the High Court decision in the case between RWE npower renewables and Milton Keynes Council.
"Nobody has got a clue how it (the judicial review) is going to go but if one council manages it then all the rest will follow," he said.
Cornwall Council's planning policy panel will discuss the issue next month before a full council debate.
Councillor Mann said the move had been prompted by complaints from constituents outside the "usual anti-wind turbine brigade".
"I am getting calls from people who have never objected to wind turbines in their life," he added. "We need to get a handle on this and I will be pushing to have something included."
Comments
by IvorWard
Sunday, December 23 2012, 10:50PM
“It would appear that Mr Mann speaks with a forked tongue. On the one hand he is making noises about keeping wind farms from overpowering communities and on the other he is welcoming the bribes paid over by the developers of St. Breock Downs. He welcomes £40,000 a year paid back to the community from a Company that is stealing millions a year from it in the first place.
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I withdraw my support for Mr Mann. I will leave him to consult his own conscience and decide which way the wind will blow him in the future.”
by IvorWard
Saturday, December 22 2012, 8:08PM
“I fully support Scott Mann. Cornwall Council has capitulated to big business. Without the massive subsidies there would not be a single application to build wind turbines. These huge subsidies are stolen from every electricity bill payer in Cornwall, forcing older and poorer people into a choice between warmth or food. Every taxpayer is contributing to the Billion pounds a year paid out to these wind farmers. Every business is paying a premium to keep them in luxury. The richer land owners and the multinational power companies get richer at the expense of the poorest in our society and the Council have capitulated in the face of pressure from these carpetbaggers.
For what? Not one single conventional power station has been replaced by wind factories. There is not one shred of empirical evidence to show any pollution is saved by these things. After we have blighted our homes, laid hundreds of miles of access tracks, miles of copper cable from remote locations, extra pylons everywhere, birds killed and landscapes ruined what are we left with? A badly designed intermittent duplication of our very efficient power system at a huge cost and no benefit. It takes 600 wind turbines to generate the power of one super efficient CC gas turbine station. Even then , only when the wind blows, which is inevitably not during the coldest high pressures. Today they are shut down because the wind is too strong! Every large turbine is imported. Imported in case you missed that. There is no benefit to British industry and just a few transitory jobs raping the Countryside to get them installed. The only long term job is gathering the buzzard carcases at the foot of the wind flails and burying them before the public see them. What is the latest? These foreign wind farm companies are going to try and bribe you with a tiny percentage of their massive subsidy driven profits to let them continue to milk our economy. Every bribe comes from your own pocket first. Never forget that. So go for it Mr Mann. A few millions spent now to prevent these carpetbaggers leeching billions of us in the future is money well spent.”