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Villagers prepared to fight turbines project



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Published Date: 17 July 2008
A campaign has been launched against plans to build a wind farm near Brixworth after more than 150 people voiced their opposition at a public meeting.
Although the planning application for the scheme has not yet been submitted, property development company Bolsterstone is hoping to build seven wind turbines at Lodge Farm, north of Brixworth village towards Hanging Houghton.

Organised by The Lodge Farm Wind Farm Action Group, last night's meeting at Brixworth Community Centre heard from Professor Michael Jefferson, an energy and environmental advisor, and East Midlands MEP, Chris Heaton-Harris.

Both men argued against the building of the wind farm and urged residents in the area to support a campaign to fight the planning application.

David Ward, one of the organisers of the meeting, said: "Our biggest concern is that we do not want the scenic value of the area to be destroyed.

"We get a lot of information about how good wind farms are but they are only suitable for certain places and this part of England is not one of them."

Many of the residents who attended the meeting agreed to support The Lodge Farm Wind Farm Action Group, who will now set up a website and print leaflets and posters opposing the scheme.

Mr Ward said: "I am very pleased with the turnout. I suspect the planning application is going to be coming in relatively soon. Now we need to get ourselves sorted and ready."

East Midlands MEP, Chris Heaton-Harris urged the audience to write to their MP, the Lodge Farm land owners and Bolsterstone to register their opposition against the scheme.

Bolsterstone said last week they would be holding a full public consultation and any concerns from local residents would be discussed then.

The property company also said an environmental statement would be published prior to the planning application submission and would be available at various locations in the area.

The full article contains 323 words and appears in Northampton Chron & Echo newspaper.
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  • Last Updated: 17 July 2008 7:59 AM
  • Source: Northampton Chron & Echo
  • Location: Northampton
 
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1

Roger Mellie,

In Bed 17/07/2008 09:01:30
They all bleat, but every single one of them uses electricity. Such hypocrisy.
2

robert angus,

17/07/2008 09:22:52
ok BUT NOT IN MY BACK GARDEN
3

D2008,

ex-pat 17/07/2008 09:24:22
They complain about the scenery being ruined,perhaps a company could come and dig up the precious scenery in search of fossil fuels eh? There won't be any scenery if we don't start switching to renewable energy. it's safer, cleaner and RENEWABLE. If you want energy but don't want wind farms then find another source for the area you are in, wave power, hydro-electric power or bio-fuels, once the turbines are there, like anything new, you don't notice them. Stop with the me me me attitude and think on the bigger scale. I have a new wind farm where I live (a lot more scenic than Brixworth) and there are over 15 turbines it doesn't detract from the beauty at all.
4

Garynorthants,

17/07/2008 10:16:06
I actually think they are a feature rather than an eyesore. Surely they cannot be considered to be any worse than row after row of pylons that tear through the countryside? At least these are doing their bit for the environment - there wont be much of a scenery left before long unless we make these kind of changes.
5

Weatherman,

17/07/2008 14:24:24
The real sheep are the people who are mindlessly supporting the wind industry without understanding the first thing about it.

Would suggest that they do some research on the real world experience of large-scale wind power capacity in Germany, Denmark, Spain and the US.

Then tell us how many fossil-fuelled power stations have closed in those countries and how much CO2 production has been stopped as a result of such wind power generation.

Germany has over 22,000 wind turbines and is running out of onshore sites. They have wrecked huge areas of their countryside with turbine parks. They are now going to build 26 new coal and lignite-fired power stations.

Denmark, with the highest per-capita wind capacity in the world is missing its Carbon targets by a country mile and has not closed any fossil-fuelled power stations.
6

Weatherman,

17/07/2008 14:38:11
Doubt whether #1-4 read the warning by Paul Golby, CEO of power conglomerate (and major wind operator) E.ON UK in the Guardian, June 4 this year warning that:

"Britain will need substantial fossil fuel generation to back up the renewable energy it needs to meet European Union targets....

"E.ON said that it could take 50 gigawatts of renewable electricity generation to meet the EU target. But it would require up to 90% of this amount as backup from coal and gas plants to ensure supply when intermittent renewable supplies were not available. That would push Britain's installed power base from the existing 76 gigawatts to 120 gigawatts.

"Paul Golby, E.ON UK's chief executive, declined to be drawn on how much the expansion would cost, beyond saying it would be "significant". Industry sources estimate the bill for additional generation could be well in excess of £50bn."

In other words: WE WILL NEED MORE FOSSIL-FUELLED POWER STATIONS TO BACK UP YOUR PRETTY WIND TURBINES.

How stupid is that?
7

Not a N.I.M.B.Y.,

Mawsley 17/07/2008 15:45:21
I think they are graceful and majestic
8

Roger Mellie,

Burning Electrons 17/07/2008 16:37:03
Didn't realise you were having one built in your back garden Mr Angus.

Serously though, wherever a windfarm or conventional power station is placed then someone is going to bleat about it and as long as we each continue to consume the end product then none of us have any moral right to complain.
9

Weatherman,

17/07/2008 17:57:19
“Wind energy is only able to replace traditional power stations to a limited extent.

“Their dependence on the prevailing wind conditions means that wind power has a limited load factor even when technically available. It is not possible to guarantee its use for the continual cover of electricity consumption. Consequently, traditional power stations with capacities equal to 90% of the installed wind power capacity must be permanently online in order to guarantee power supply at all times.”
(E.On Netz, Wind Report 2005, p. 4)

Germany's huge installed wind capacity has not delivered on the forecasts made for it, delivering only 17-18% of installed capacity. It has also caused increasing and serious instability in the electricity supply system:

‘FRANKFURT (Thomson Financial) - German utilities are warning the government of bottlenecks in power transmission grids due to the difficulties of integrating higher shares of wind energy, Handelsblatt reported.

[...]

‘The number of incidents has risen significantly over the past two years, the report said. Vattenfall Europe AG's transmission unit recorded 155 days where the situation was critical on grids last year [2007], and 28 out of 29 days so far this year.
[...]’ (Thomson Financial News, 31 Jan 2008).

Hope you consider the huge subsidy to wind generated power is worth it when the lights go out.
10

D2008,

ex-pat 17/07/2008 20:20:32
Weatherman, haven't YOU read the reports? Fossil Fuels are running out, so even if we need more fossil fuelled power stations we won't have the fossil fuels to run them, maybe they could be run using bio-fuels? we use the left overs from pressing olivesintead of coal, you can use refined sunflower oil the same as diesel, rotting vegetables produce methane which can be burnt as efficient as natural gas there are other options, we are not saying windpower is a total solution but it is a start.
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