Parish council calls for windfarm plans to be thrown out
The view from Aldreth Causeway - Credit: Archant
Haddenham Parish Council has called for the first stage of plans for a set of four wind turbines on the outskirts of the village to be refused.
At a meeting of full council this week, a total of eight councillors voted to recommend refusal for plans to erect a 60m anemometer mast in Berry Fen, with four councillors choosing to abstain.
An anemometer, which measures wind speed, is the first step in a process that will eventually see applicant REG Windpower enter plans for four turbines – each measuring 130 metres high - at Berry Fen.
Towering at up to 130m, the turbines would stand at nearly double the height of the 66m tall West Tower of Ely Cathedral.
The company already has turbines in Turves and Whittlesey, in Fenland, and Ramsey, in Huntingdon.
The company says the turbines could, on average, provide enough safe, clean renewable energy to power about 4,500 homes.
And, in addition, it is proposing to set up a ‘community fund’ worth £36,000 a year to support good causes and community projects throughout the life of the wind
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farm – expected to last about 25 years.
But parish councillors have not been swayed by the potential community offset, with the majority opting to recommend refusal on the grounds of its potential impact on wildlife and residents quality of life, among a host of others.
The final decision, however, remains with East Cambridgeshire District Council’s planning committee, which will consider the application later this year.
District councillor for Haddenham, Bill Hunt, added: “I am appalled by the vandalism that is being proposed by the plan to erect four massive wind turbines very near Aldreth which will be twice the height of Ely Cathedral.
The current application which is now with the council is for only one small scale anemometer but this is just a trial for the big ones. Wind turbines are like rabbits and if not opposed will breed. This cannot happen, wind turbines are less harmful when located off shore.”
