Application – 55 kW wind turbine, South Bofindle Farm, Mount, Warleggan
STATUS: Approved with conditions
see: decision notice (28/01/13) – officer report (28/01/13) – other documents
>> BBC NEWS: Cornwall wind turbine approved after parish decision change – Warleggan Parish Council had voted against the proposals for South Bofindle Farm in December. It changed its decision after being contacted by Cornwall Council planners… BBC News, Cornwall, 05/02/2013
proposed for both Bofindle Farm and South Bofindle Farm
from fineenergy.wordpress.com
click to see larger image
By a majority of four to three, the Planning Sub-Committee at the parish meeting of Thursday 20th December 2012 had voted not to support application PA12/10968 for “Installation of a single small-scale 55 kW wind turbine on a 36 m Monopole tubular tower (up to 47 m tip height) with 3 blades and a rotor diameter of 19.2 m and associated equipment’ at South Bofindle, Mount, Bodmin, PL30 4DU.” Full details of the discussions and decisions made are given in the minutes of the meeting.
Click the link above to find out more about this application, and to review the documents held at Cornwall County Council; note that in the documents listing some of the documents appear unlabelled, but they can still be seen by clicking on the acrobat logo on the left of each row. Comments and letters submitted to Cornwall Council can also be found there, both in favour and against, and those interested can submit their own comments by letter or through their website.
If you wish to see recent observations about this application from readers of Warleggan News, and/or to contribute your own thoughts and ideas, please go down this page until you get to the top of the ‘comments’ section.
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Application – 5 kW wind turbine, Castle Dewey, Warleggan
STATUS: Approved with conditions – erected Nov 2012; up and running
– (decision notice not available online)
A parish meeting was held at the Jubilee Hall on 4th September, where, amongst other things, the planning application was discussed for a small wind turbine at Castle Dewey, PA12/05804. See minutes for this meeting.
Amongst the arguments made in favour were its relatively small height (‘a telegraph pole and a half’), the compatibility of its output (5kW) with the needs of the farm, its ability (according to some) to ‘fit in’ with the topography of the surrounding environment, its low noise levels, its green credentials as an environmentally friendly power source, its role in helping make the farm viable, its compatibility with a culture of centuries of change and progress in the area, and, according to one, the beauty of turbines.
as had been proposed for Castle Dewey and has now been installed there
from greenreview.blogspot.co.uk
click to see larger image
Arguments against included the inappropriateness of its location deep within an Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty and so close to historic sites (tumuli etc.), the insufficient consultation with neighbours, the proximity to some residences, the potential effects on health (both known and unknown), the spoiling of the landscape including when viewed from the road, and the fear of a precedent being set: that if this one is approved, more will surely follow.
The planning sub-committee considered the application, and voted five in favour of the application, and three against.
Background: The proposed turbine is an Evance R9000, 5kW, on a 15 metre tower. Like the turbine proposed for Bofindle (see below), it would be a three-blade turbine, but with a tower less than half the height, with blades less than half the size, and it would produce a tenth of the power output (see photos above).
Note that on the planning website, some of the documents listed appear unlabelled in the ‘associated documents’ window, but can still be viewed by clicking on the PDF logo on the left, including the top listed item, the planning application itself. It can be safely assumed, also, that the listing of it as a 5 watt turbine is also in error.
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Application – 50 kW wind turbine, Bofindle Farm, Mount, Warleggan
STATUS: PA12/05060 (Bofindle Farm) – Application refused, 15th Feb 2013
– (decision notice not available online)
A well-attended meeting was held on 7th August 2012, at which plans for the proposed turbine PA12/05060 at Bofindle Farm, near to Carne Wood, were discussed. Full minutes for this meeting are posted on Warleggan News. Below is an informal brief summary, produced earlier, which is NOT an official record:
- Statements were made, firstly on behalf of the applicant, and secondly in opposition to the proposal.
- A lively discussion followed on the various issues and factors raised.
- The following resolution was proposed, seconded and voted on by Warleggan parishioners through a show of hands – 36 voted in favour of the resolution, and 9 against:
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“This Parish Meeting strongly urges the Parish Planning Sub-Committee to recommend the rejection of the planning application for a wind turbine at Bofindle Farm, Mount. This Meeting would like the parish’s formal response to Cornwall Council – whatever that response is – to be accompanied by the following explanation:
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“The Parish Meeting of Warleggan views the application PA12/05060 as incompatible with the importance and protection afforded to an Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty in current national and local planning policies. As these are due shortly to be superseded, we believe the application could be resubmitted at that time and that, unlike the present application, a wildlife survey is undertaken together with adequate consultation with nearby residents – carried out and recorded according to the Council’s own guidelines.”
- After further discussions, the Planning Sub-Committee then gathered to consider the application PA12/05060, and voted two in favour of the application, three against, and two abstentions.
RESEARCH:
- Review the PA12/05060 wind turbine planning application; and/or find out about other plans in the area by going to the council’s planning search page. Comments to the council on this or any planning applications can be made online, or by letter.
- Why not watch a short video showing the E-3120 turbine in action – for example, there is one produced by an installer Solar Ventus. Or read the 4-page brochure about the turbine produced by the manufacturers, Endurance Wind Power.
- Check out Cornwall Council’s renewable energy webpage, with links to maps showing where various renewable energy projects are happening in the county, along with a series of well written guidance notes, specific to Cornwall, including one looking in detail at onshore wind.
- Or just google away…
Use the ‘comments’ window below to express your views. Please be careful in how you phrase things, especially if you want to disagree with someone else’s comment. The idea of this site is to bring people together …
Comments received by email:
- From Cathy Farnworth, Monday, 6 August 2012, 11:48: Say No Leaflet and letter to the council
- A poem from Roger Farnworth, 6 August 2012, 20:19 on the subject – The Wind Farm: Elegy for a Cornish Village
I think that say’s it all.
As I will be the most affected by the turbine I saw no reason why I should not start a discussion on this subject. To my mind it is the most important matter to come before the council for some considerable time.
We therefore decided to check the views of the community in which we live before the meeting on Tuesday by visiting as many properties as we could to sound out their views. What we found out really surprised us and I tabulate them here.
Against turbines 74 people
For turbines 6 people
Undecided 9 people
Abstained 2 people
Properties unavailable 7
These properties are all in the Warleggan and Mount parish.
Hopefully this will be taken into account by the Planning Committee on Tuesday and will vote accordingly in a truly democratic manner.
I was just thinking in the bath this morning – I could put a small turbine up in my garden. It’s windy enough up here, and I don’t think there would be many objections from Cardinham parish council, as it’s miles from their village centre.
It would be interesting to know the views of the local people that have lived here all their lives rather than the handful of ‘incomers’ that are expressing their views.
As you can see we have taken the views of the majority of people in the Parish, whether incomers or not, and the results speak for themselves. Some people were not prepared to take part!!
Do NOT be misled by the application details which states that it is for a small wind turbine. The height is actually 152ft which is higher than the Bodmin Beacon. The definition of small is in line according to the Cornwall Council grading which states that a small turbine can be up to 60 metres high!!
From the brochure, which I have already perused, it would appear to be such a quiet machine but they give no indication of the main source which is the ‘infrasound’ I have more factual information if anyone wishes to acquaint them selves with facts not a salesmans brochure
If you or anyone have links / web addresses where people can find more info (whether on infrasound or whatever), can you send them in a comment? If the comments function fails to make your links clickable, hopefully I can make them clickable from here
As I live within the boundaries of Cardinham Parish, albeit in the village of Mount, I presume I am not allowed to vote on the proposed wind turbines. I wonder how villagers would feel if I proposed to put turbines in my fields, which would affect properties both within and outside both Parishes. I have the space, I could certainly do with the money, but I just wouldn’t consider such a blot on the landscape. I wonder how many people would actually turn out for this meeting, if they thought I might put in a proposal that is exactly the same….I think there would be an uproar! Everyone is entitled to earn some extra money, but not at the expense of others’ lives and environment. I shall come with an open mind at least….
Well said Rosemary. We look forward to seeing you at the meeting. We have to indicate to the Councillors the strength of feeling to this particularly as it is in an Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty.
I agree with Tony that this is a big issue for this small community. Once this turbine is up there is no going back as it will be there for at least 20 years. I appeal to everyone, whether for or against, to attend so the Parish Councillors have a clear indication of the feelings of the people of the parish on this matter and then trust that they all take this into account when they are asked to vote. This is not the time for old loyalties or indeed old enmities to be taken into account only the overall wishes of the majority.
there is a meeting to discuss ocean housing and the application to erect a turbine on aug 7 at jubilee hall, mount. please try to attend, as this is a very big issue for mount and the surrounding area. if you think that it will not affect you, think again.it will dominate the landscape and if you are not able to see it from your house, once a precedent has been set, there may well be another that you can see. whether you support this turbine or object – MAKE YOUR VOICE HEARD!.this is no time to sit on the fence, we are all entitled to hold an opinion and to voice it in public, so let everybody hear yours, whatever it may be.so come along to the meeting and make your views known – once it is up it is up, and there is no going back, mount will never have the same appearance if this turbine is erected.
As with Elizabeth, I am in incomer having lived in this beautiful part of Cornwall since 1986 and I am becoming increasingly concerned with the large number of applications for these wind turbines just in the immediate area. I totally agree with the comments of the Campaign for Rural England on this point who are very concerned about the impact they will have on the county which relies so heavily on tourism.
However there is also a wider issue of noise, both audible and sub-audible and there are many peer reviewed documents to support this.
I quote from one source, an extract from a report to the House of Lords Select Committee which states:
” During the past few years, reports of wind turbine noise and its adverse health impacts have emerged internationally as more and larger wind turbines are built as close as 400 metres to homes. Clinical evidence is is recent and medical research is just beginning to address this specific issue.
There is material evidence available to show that ETSU R 97 has failed to provide a reasonable level of protection to family homes from unbearable noise pollution where wind turbines are located too close to homes. Symptons include sleep disturbances and deprivation, sometimes so severe that families are forced to evacuate their homes in order to stabilise well-being and to resume normal family life. This is a worldwide phenomenon where wind turbines are located too close to homes.
Thus, onshore wind turbines built within 2 km of homes offer no benefits and should not be part of a plan to provide the UK with a viable, secure,predictable supply of electricity. Indeed on shore wind turbines ensure an unpredictable energy supply, by the very nature of the wind, with a long list of adverse impacts that diminish their supposed usefulness. Other renewables such as solar and hydropower offer more options and predictability, especially combined with the still necessary ( and technologically advancing) conventional sources of energy”
The main points from this report is the noise effect and the distance from the closest home, both of which have been dismissed too lightly by the planning authorities by the
“presumption in favour”
There are also other peer reviewed articles dated January 2012 which support the basic facts outlined in the above.
As a matter of interest I have just had solar panels installed to the roof to the rear of my house which have no visual or noise implications and which are doing my bit to reduce the carbon foot- print as well as reducing my electricity bill.
It’s difficult not to speak emotionally, or even personally when discussing wind turbines in this village especially when a proposed site is more or less next door to your property. I have spoken to the applicant or rather he spoke to me when we were ‘rescuing’ escaped cattle one evening not so long ago. It was explained to me that we wouldn’t notice them (turbines not cattle!) as they would be in the second field away from the road and the trees would shield them from view etc. In view of the scale of deforestation that has taken place along the Glyn Valley recently, there is no guarantee there will be any trees in Carne Woods in the future.
I was also told that these ‘new type’ turbines were quieter than the old ones. I don’t know if anyone else recalls when turbines popped up ‘down west’ 10-15 years ago, the neighbours were being driven mad with the constant background noise which they were told didn’t exist and they were being ‘Nimbys’. Now it would appear 10-15 years later, these new turbines are quieter which suggests the old ones were in fact ‘noisy’ and the neighbours had a point. In 10-15 years, new ones no doubt will come out that are quieter than the ‘old ones’ and so the cycle goes on.
The green economy, I read today, is costing businesses a lot of money, so much in fact that it threatens the economy of the country as it will be cheaper for manufacturers to take their business abroad. So called ‘Green energy’ is more expensive for domestic power too and there are many arguments for and against wind power and this is where arguments become personal. The only ones benefitting from the turbines are those who have them on their land, often well away from their own dwellings.
I am not against finding energy sources from nature. Earlier this week I went to Barnstaple. We suddenly passed several fields of solar panels. We couldn’t see them until we passed, they were not visible from miles away, do not cause ‘flicker’ and make no noise. They can be put on ‘set aside fields’ where they will probably produce better returns for the land owner than the subsidy for ‘set aside’.
If we have to have wind turbines and if the Government thinks they are the way forward, then put them on brownfield sites. This village and it’s surroundings have no precendant, there are no ‘iron men’ (pylons) marching across the countryside carrying cables over the fields, buzzing away. There is a huge brownfield site in Cornwall, it’s called the A30. A windmill on the side of the eastbound carriageway every quarter of a mile would result in around 300 plus turbines and not cause ‘flicker’ as they would not be between drivers and the sun. No-one would hear the racket they make, not even those living close to the A30 as the noise of vehicles would drown it out.
As an ‘incomer’ to the village and Cornwall (albeit of 20 years) I welcome progress and would not want the indiginous population to be ‘preserved in aspic’, everyone deserves the benefits of modern living, however it’s sad to realise that the ‘rape of the fair country’ in this village is being commited by those rooted for generations in this community who, when speaking to me that evening, rubbed his hands in glee at the thought of the money coming his way from the wind turbines.