Turbine objectors lose battle
THE Friends of the South Pennines have lost a five-year battle to keep Todmorden Moor free of giant wind turbines.
The Planning Inspectorate has informed objectors that Coronation Power now has all the permissions it needs to build five 125m turbines on the moor above Cloughfoot village, west of Sourhall.
Permission to construct turbines and roadways on Todmorden Moor common land was given after a public inquiry at Todmorden Town Hall in May. The boundary of the common will now be changed.
Sarah Pennie, spokesperson for the objectors, said: “We are all disappointed, but we knew after planning permission was granted in January this year that we stood little chance of saving the common land.”
According to the objectors, Coronation Power must now carry out important investigations and reach agreements with Calderdale Council before any construction work can begin.
Mrs Pennie said nothing will save hundreds of tonnes of recovering peat moorland from destruction.
“That, and the loss of the quiet beauty of the moor enjoyed by so many people, is the saddest thing of all,” she said.
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Wednesday 30 May 2012
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Comments
There are 5 comments to this article
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Jackdaw
Tuesday, July 26, 2011 at 12:02 AMAs Mrs Pennie refers to in the article...What is the point of constructing this alternative energy wind power station to "protect" the environment, if the natural beauty and the fragile eco-system of the South Pennines moors are destroyed in the process? Wind power stations are visually and acoustically dominating industrial and commercial installations that require a huge spatial footprint for a piddling amount of intermittent, unreliable electricity generation and negligible CO2 emission savings....as evidenced by the sobering experience of Denmark, the supposed "poster-boy" of wind energy. They are not “windfarms” (a cynical misnomer) but are certainly “wind subsidy farms” for the profit-driven, duplicitous, bullying developers and opportunistic landowners, whilst the "ROC" stealth-subsidies will soon push many into fuel poverty Wind turbines on this scale (nearly 400 feet tall at tip height) are NOT environmentally benign (noise, shadow flicker, bird + bat deaths, fragmentation of wildlife areas, immovable, concrete access roadturbine crane bases etc, etc), do not belong in wilderness areas, and are completely incompatible with our irreplacable rural landscapes. This is evidenced by the fact wind turbines are banned from areas of outstanding natural natural beautyNational ParkSSSI sites, landscape architects are hired to “minimize” what even wind developers admit are their "adverse visual impacts" and great play is made of the “reversibility” of wind developments…surely this is unnecessary if they so unimpeachably acceptable on both a local and national level. Greed not "green" is what this is all about....supported by catastrophically misguided political whimsy and complicity. Despite a concerted and valiant effort, the local authority, Friends of South Pennines, local people and many other groupsbodiesorganisations who value and cherish their local countryside never stood a chance of stopping this part of England becoming a pillaged industrial landscape (with little or no local benefits or redress...only adverse impacts) as central government's heavy bias in favour of wind developments in order to meet impossible EU renewable energy targets was always a policy "trump card" to ride roughshod over any and all objections, no matter how compelling. It is indeed a strange and sorry business that is testing exactly what "democracy" really means in 21st century Britain.
Jackdaw
Monday, July 25, 2011 at 11:59 PMAs Mrs Pennie refers to in the article...What is the point of constructing this alternative energy wind power station to "protect" the environment, if the natural beauty and the fragile eco-system of the South Pennines moors are destroyed in the process? Wind power stations are visually and acoustically dominating industrial and commercial installations that require a huge spatial footprint for a piddling amount of intermittent, unreliable electricity generation and negligible CO2 emission savings....as evidenced by the sobering experience of Denmark, the supposed "poster-boy" of wind energy. They are not “windfarms” (a cynical misnomer) but are certainly “wind subsidy farms” for the profit-driven, duplicitous, bullying developers and opportunistic landowners, whilst the "ROC" stealth-subsidies will soon push many into fuel poverty Wind turbines on this scale (nearly 400 feet tall at tip height) are NOT environmentally benign (noise, shadow flicker, bird + bat deaths, fragmentation of wildlife areas, immovable, concrete access roadturbine crane bases etc, etc), do not belong in wilderness areas, and are completely incompatible with our irreplacable rural landscapes. This is evidenced by the fact wind turbines are banned from areas of outstanding natural natural beautyNational ParkSSSI sites, landscape architects are hired to “minimize” what even wind developers admit are their "adverse visual impacts" and great play is made of the “reversibility” of wind developments…surely this is unnecessary if they so unimpeachably acceptable on both a local and national level. Greed not "green" is what this is all about....supported by catastrophically misguided political whimsy and complicity. Despite a concerted and valiant effort, the local authority, Friends of South Pennines, local people and many other groupsbodiesorganisations who value and cherish their local countryside never stood a chance of stopping this part of England becoming a pillaged industrial landscape (with little or no local benefits or redress...only adverse impacts) as central government's heavy bias in favour of wind developments in order to meet impossible EU renewable energy targets was always a policy "trump card" to ride roughshod over any and all objections, no matter how compelling. It is indeed a strange and sorry business that is testing exactly what "democracy" really means in 21st century Britain.
Jackdaw
Monday, July 25, 2011 at 11:52 PMAs Mrs Pennie refers to in the article...What is the point of constructing this alternative energy wind power station to "protect" the environment, if the natural beauty and the fragile eco-system of the South Pennines moors are destroyed in the process? Wind power stations are visually and acoustically dominating industrial and commercial installations that require a huge spatial footprint for a piddling amount of intermittent, unreliable electricity generation and negligible CO2 emission savings....as evidenced by the sobering experience of Denmark, the supposed "poster-boy" of wind energy. They are not “windfarms” (a cynical misnomer) but are certainly “wind subsidy farms” for the profit-driven, duplicitous, bullying developers and opportunistic landowners, whilst the "ROC" stealth-subsidies will soon push many into fuel poverty Wind turbines on this scale (nearly 400 feet tall at tip height) are NOT environmentally benign (noise, shadow flicker, bird + bat deaths, fragmentation of wildlife areas, immovable, concrete access roadturbine crane bases etc, etc), do not belong in wilderness areas, and are completely incompatible with our irreplacable rural landscapes. This is evidenced by the fact wind turbines are banned from areas of outstanding natural natural beautyNational ParkSSSI sites, landscape architects are hired to “minimize” what even wind developers admit are their "adverse visual impacts" and great play is made of the “reversibility” of wind developments…surely this is unnecessary if they so unimpeachably acceptable on both a local and national level. Greed not "green" is what this is all about....supported by catastrophically misguided political whimsy and complicity. Despite a concerted and valiant effort, the local authority, Friends of South Pennines, local people and many other groupsbodiesorganisations who value and cherish their local countryside never stood a chance of stopping this part of England becoming a pillaged industrial landscape (with little or no local benefits or redress...only adverse impacts) as central government's heavy bias in favour of wind developments in order to meet impossible EU renewable energy targets was always a policy "trump card" to ride roughshod over any and all objections, no matter how compelling. It is indeed a strange and sorry business that is testing exactly what "democracy" really means in 21st century Britain.
batscross
Saturday, July 23, 2011 at 10:58 AMCommiserations from North Devon, where we have had one of these subsidy generation scheemes turned down. Don't give up objecting against any and every detail of the plans. I remember Todmorden Moor from my youth. I would hate to see it covered with these non-green profit machines.
buggerlugs26
Friday, July 22, 2011 at 09:10 PMi think coronation power will tell calderdale what they are going to do and calderdale will just sit there like little nodding dogs.
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