Tilting at Turbines #1

[jacey]

The Birdsedge Windfarm Debate

Windfarm developers Pure Renewable Energies and their surveyors, Parsons Brinkerhoff, carried out public consultations at Birdsedge on Friday 12th and Saturday 13th March, for the project they are calling 'The Dearne Head Windfarm', by mounting an exhibition in Birdsedge Church schoolroom. It says much for the passion of the anti-turbine faction that volunteers stood outside the exhibition in the cold and the drizzle giving out leaflets from BOLT, the Birdsedge and District Opposition to Large Turbines.

The debate goes like this: Residents want to know why, when European guidelines recommend that turbines should not be sited closer than 2 kilometres to housing, PRE has come up with a scheme to build them on greenbelt, within 500 metres of a village centre, community hall, church and school. PRE say that England isn't signed up to that particular piece of EU legislation. Besides, they say they can't find any land in England which is more than 2k from housing. Residents say if that is the case (and they don't believe it is) that this proves that on-shore windfarms are not the right kind of renewable energy for this island. PRE says residents will have to take that up with the government. Thanks, PRE.

Residents say the four turbines are too close to the village. At a blade tip height of 120 metres and a hill height of 35 metres, the tip of the turbine blades will loom over the school and housing estate at 155 metres. For comparison, Blackpool Tower is 158 metres and Emley Moor transmitter is 329 metres. So the four turbines are likely to be almost as tall as Blackpool Tower with a blade diameter of 80 metres and almost half the height of Emley Moor. PRE actually agrees that there will be a 'loom' factor, but say that residents will have to put up with that because windfarms are A Good Thing and there's nowhere else they can put one. Yeah, right.

Residents say that the turbines will be so close that noise will be an issue, both the swish from the blades and low frequency rumble. PRE says noise will not be an issue, but present no figures to back up their claim. Residents say that studies have proved that noise can be an issue at up to 1.5 kilometres. PRE say that if noise is an issue after the fact they will slow the turbines or stop them to reduce noise at specific rimes – i.e. when people are sleeping. Residents say if PRE is willing to admit they'll make adjustments if there is noise after the fact, that they can't in all honesty claim (before the fact) that the turbines will not be a noise nuisance. There is obviously a considerable element of doubt. Show us the numbers!

Residents say light flicker will be an issue at times of low sun. PRE say they will turn the turbines off when the sun is low enough to cause flicker through the blades. Residents say that this proves the turbines are close enough to produce the strobe-effect flickering, within the village boundary, that can trigger migraines or epileptic seizures in susceptible people, and then ask. 'How can switching off help maximise the turbine's electricity producing potential?'

PRE says a full ecological survey has been done by Parsons Brinkerhoff. Residents ask if they can see it. PRE says. Not until the actual planning application has been made – at which time the data will become public. Residents say that this doesn't give them much time to formulate opinions and objections since PRE have been working on this application since 2006 and residents weren't aware of it until mid 2009.

It's a poor show. This is supposed to be a public consultation, but PRE's understanding of the term is very different from mine. I asked them the direct question: If all the villagers say they don't want the windfarm, will you go away and leave us alone? They said no. In other words their take on public consultation is more like: We're going to show you our plans for your village and your views will not be taken into account.

I'm surprised there were so many people at the exhibition. PRE say they delivered 1000 leaflets to invite people, but I don't know where they went to. They were not even delivered to all the houses in the village. Park Lane was missed out, so were the Park Head Farm houses. the houses closest to the development, and so were some of the outlying farm houses which are barely more than 500 metres from the site on the other side of the village, including the house along Windmill Lane - that's the same road as Turbine Number 3. The BOLT (opposition) group did as much, if not more, to publicise the exhibition than PRE did. PRE's own leaflets only went out on Monday for a Friday event.

It was also a poor exhibition. There were seven or eight panels of mostly general text about how wind-power is supposed to save the planet, with few illustrations. There were a couple of maps that were so small they were next to useless and four mock up photos of what the turbines would look like from Ingbirchworth, Royd Moor and Shelley etc, which obviously minimised the size of the turbines by the distance. On the Royd Moor illustration because of the perspective the turbines looked to be a similar size to the Royd Moor ones when, in fact, they'll be three times the height. That illustration also missed out the three turbines that have just had planning permission from Barnsley council next to the current Royd Moor site, therefore failing to show cumulative effect.

There was no mock up illustration of what the turbines would look like from Birdsedge and High Flatts. I expect PRE didn't have a stand tall enough!

This is the picture they didn't want to show. This was done for us by Peter Stanley, a local photographer, using the height of the 50 metre test mast to get the scale of the 120 metre turbines as close as possible.

There were also no hard facts about noise measurements or environmental issues save for the fact that we needn't worry. Great plaititude. We're very worried. There were lots of quietly angry people at the exhibition (I won't call it a consultation) on Friday afternoon and in three hours I heard no residents speak up for the windfarm project, but many spoke up against. Residents are definitely going to fight this windfarm development when it comes before the Kirklees planners. If European guidelines stipulate a 2 kilometre stand-off from housing it's for a reason.

The actual planning application for the windfarm won't be presented to Kirklees until April, but PRE have already been consulting with the Kirklees planning office - in secret - for four years.