| AIRFIELD FARM WIND FACTORY |
|
| BACKGROUND |
|
Nuon is a Dutch based multi billion € energy company with interests in coal, oil and renewables. Three years ago they proposed fifteen 400 feet high wind turbines towering above our North Bedfordshire landscape at Airfield Farm, Hinwick. Their eventual application for a 9 turbine wind factory was resoundingly rejected by Bedford Borough Council last June. Nuon appealed and then withdrew seven months later.
The latest application is for 3 turbines on part of the same site. Nuon’s stated policy is to build only large scale wind energy developments. If permission is given to build one turbine of this size and scale at Airfield Farm, this alone will change the character of our beautiful landscape. This wind factory application will create an undesirable precedent for future expansion whether by them or some future owner of this site or developer of adjacent sites.
This is not what the people of North Bedfordshire want. The Parish Councils of Felmersham, Odell, Carlton, Harrold, Podington, Souldrop, Irchester, Easton Maudit, Wymington and Wollaston representing thousands of local residents all voted against the original proposal. National organisations such as the Campaign to Protect Rural England (CPRE) and The British Horse Society also spoke out vigorously against the plan. At a Parish Council Public Meeting in Podington on October 9th 2008 chaired by Alistair Burt MP and attended by over 80 people, a public vote was held and there was a 100% objection to the scheme. |
| |
| IMPACT ON THE SURROUNDING AREA |
| |
| 3 turbines, each 125 metres high (equivalent to a 35 storey building) with blades of 90 metres diameter (larger than a Boeing 747 Jumbo Jet) are proposed.
Since 30th March 2006 local residents are able to see for themselves the damage that a much smaller wind factory can inflict on the countryside. The 10 turbines towering above Burton Latimer can be readily seen for miles around, and yet they are just two thirds the height of other proposed developments in the pipeline. Work has recently begun on the extension to Burton Wold to increase the total size of the power station to 17. There are now 19 wind factories being considered within the three counties: a horrifying cumulative impact. |
| |
| The area swept by the moving blades of each turbine is 1.57 acres (6362 sq metres). This is 65% greater than the turbines at Burton Latimer.These industrial towers will be among the largest moving structures ever built in the UK |
| |
| The nearest turbine is within a kilometre of residential properties |
| |
| Independently produced photomontages and ZVIs prepared by a reputable firm of professional Town Planners and Urban Designers have been commissioned but those provided by the developer underestimate to a marked degree the size and scale of actual structures in the landscape.
Montages cannot reflect the movement of the blades which has an impact far greater than a static object. The montages demonstrate that the visual impact on the villages of Podington, Farndish, Sharnbrook, Souldrop, Harrold, Odell, Wollaston, and Bozeat and countryside up to 3 km distant will be dominated by the turbines. The settlements and countryside in the 3 to 8 km range will see the turbines as prominent. |
| |
| The character of the landscape in the area, particularly the small scale wooded wold, the Ouse Valley Area of Great Landscape Value and the skylines will be seriously, adversely affected by the introduction of intrusive, standardised, vertical and moving industrial structures. |
| |
| The flicker, glint and noise these massive turbines generate cause local disruption. When the intrusion gets too bad, residents frequently ask for them to be switched off or the blade speed reduced. This means even less energy is produced. |
| |
| The social cost to communities includes loss of amenity, destruction of landscape, reduction in house prices, increased levels of stress and ill health, and conflict between neighbours. |
| |
| The proposal conflicts with local planning policies which seek to protect the open countryside and skylines which contribute to the character of the local landscape. |
| |
| The material adverse environmental impact, arising because of the scale and size and extent of the turbines, is not capable of being mimimised or avoided. |
| |
| The amenity and enjoyment of the countryside for the 53000 residents in the area where the effect of the turbines is overwhelming, dominant or prominent will be materially and adversely affected. |
| |
| The proposal is not in accordance with national, regional or local planning policies on renewable energy which seeks to maximise energy generation in the most appropriate circumstances. Bedford has one of the lowest wind speeds in the country. A resident in the area has made a detailed study, at local and national level, of wind speed, variability and intermittency. This is available as a summary or as a complete paper (see Wind Resource)
Monthly local and national statistics for the most recent months are provided. |
| |
| Bedfordshire has one of the lowest wind speeds in the country. Ludo van Halderen, Nuon's former Chairman of the Board (2008) stated that it is absurd for massive subsidies to go from European electricity consumers to the wind industry sector where the turbines are only achieving a 20% load factor. Realistically, the Airfield Farm Wind Farm would achieve a load factor of 20% or less, yet Nuon Renewables UK have wrongly claimed a figure of 27%. |
|
| |
Edward Leigh MP
Chairman Public Accounts Committee |
"My concern is the fly-by-night, paper nature of many of the (wind energy) companies, which simply spatter applications all over the countryside and sell on planning permissions, churning up a great deal of angst in local communities" |
| |
Professor David Bellamy
Ecologist |
"Huge amounts of tax payers money for scant environmental and electrical benefit make them a scam. Wind-farms are inefficient, destroy the landscape and far more could be achieved through energy efficiency." |
| |
|
|
|
.gif)
