Sep 21 2005
Wind farm developers are gaining a foothold in beautiful landscapes where past applications have been repeatedly refused, countryside campaigners CPRE warn.
'Decisions based on flaws in the current wind farm planning regime could spoil fine upland landscapes and leave areas of "ordinary" lowland countryside marred by multitudes of turbines,' warned Andrea Davies, CPRE's energy campaigner. This message comes hot on the heels of CPRE's seminal report Your Countryside, Your Choice which highlights the multiple threats facing the countryside.
In Devon, despite repeated planning refusals backed by the High Court and Court of Appeal, North Devon District Council may yet have to concede to 22 wind turbines being sited at Fullabrook Down near Barnstaple. The Council's objections are based on the impact of the proposal on the rolling hills bordering the North Devon Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty (AONB).
North Devon Wind Power has now proposed a wind farm which is large enough to bypass the local council. Controversially, because its power capacity is beyond 50 megawatts (MW), the application will go straight to Energy Minister Malcolm Wicks for comment and then to the Secretary of State, Alan Johnson. If Fullabrook Down goes ahead after so many refusals, there is a serious prospect of more wind turbines in many untouched scenic parts of England. Elsewhere, local councils are facing repeated applications to build wind farms on the same site. In 2004, at Fen Farm in Conisholme, Lincolnshire, East Lindsey District Council refused planning permission for 20 wind turbines by Ecotricity on the grounds of visual intrusion. The Lincolnshire Wolds Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty is four miles from the site and the turbines would be visible from large areas within it. A public inquiry is expected early in 2006. But in July this year, Ecotricity made a second similar application on the same site. This could give rise to a second appeal, possibly costing the council legal costs escalating to thousands of pounds.
Meanwhile, applications for eight separate wind farms have to date been submitted on and around the Humberhead Levels near Scunthorpe. Most of the eight are near Thorne and Hatfield Moors — highly valued nature reserves which are both Sites of Special Scientific Interest. Further applications are likely. CPRE fears the Levels, with their unique raised peat bogs, would become home to one of England's new 'windscapes' dominated by more than 150 turbines near the two moors.
Furthermore, the multitude of applications here highlights problems resulting from the system of regional renewable energy targets brought in by the Government. Each English region is required to install set levels of renewable electricity-generating energy capacity in order to meet national targets for boosting renewable power. But the targets are only set as a minimum. For the Humberhead Levels, the total amount of wind power energy now being proposed in planning applications already submitted far exceeds the contribution set for the Humber sub-region — and is close to the target for the Yorkshire and Humber region as a whole. Under the current system, there is no ceiling to the number of turbines in a given region or sub-region.
CPRE is also concerned that there is no satisfactory established method in England to assess the overall landscape effects of so many closely bunched proposals.
CPRE is calling for:
- better ways of assessing the combined landscape and visual effects of multiple wind applications in England, based on the methodology developed in Scotland
- the Government to set a ceiling on the contributions of wind power to current renewable energy targets and establish regional and national limits in order to avoid wind turbine overcrowding in some areas
- applications for wind farms to be assessed on the full range of their environmental impacts, rather than the potential reductions in carbon dioxide emissions heavily outweighing other environmental and landscape considerations in making planning decisions.
Andrea Davies concludes: 'Disturbingly, the Energy Minister has said that developers are "best-placed" to judge where wind farms should be located. We disagree: such judgements are the proper role of the planning system.
'But the framework for planning decisions on renewable energy projects needs substantial improvement. If this doesn't happen, there is a real risk of many fine landscapes being seriously damaged by wind farm development.'