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
This is the actual comment left by David with which I concur wholeheartedly: ‘What should be clearly understood by everyone is that renewable energy is like motherhood and apple pie – we are ALL in favour of it. The objection is to putting wind turbines in an Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty. Besides, these things have a tendency to breed!”. I placed my additional comment in brackets to show that it was mine. I do not see that I have been mischievous, disingenous and so on in my own take on this categorical remark. Suggest any further interpretation is left to myself and David if need be by email.
I think it is important to show cross parish agreement where possible, and in my view it is an absolute imperative to stop ANY wind turbines being built in Areas of Outstanding Natural Beauty, whatever their size, otherwise this designation will become worthless, and any whole Cornwall green energy policy – which is a MUST – will have to deal with too many facts on the ground if we are not steadfast about some basic principles. I agree with green energy, don’t we all, but not in cases where it makes no sense and harms the interests of others, including the direct neighbour in this case who has lodged a strong objection.
In the Castle Dewey case we are additionally considering a Site of Great Historic Value (megalithic settlements and tumuli) and Great Scientific Interest (though no wildlife/ecological survey has been conducted at all despite the importance of this).
In my email I outline some clear ideas for how to support wind turbines, as part of a whole Cornwall green energy policy, chief among them being the purchase of shares in turbines in zoned locations. And some other ideas, Thank you.
Cathy Farnworth is being rather naughty and disingenuous in misquoting me in her comments dated September 3. My little note of August 15 did NOT – repeat NOT – say: “We should not agree to wind turbines in Areas of Outstanding Natural Beauty under any circumstances (and should carefully consider their impact in areas of great landscape value”. I invite readers to read my remarks for themselves – below, dated August 15 – without the mischievous construction placed on them by Cathy. – David Flynn
The problem is that we are discussing wind turbines on a case by case basis. There is no doubt that leaving the landscape as it is will please everyone, yet building turbines will make many people unhappy. Therefore, there is an argument in favour of not building turbines. The case that farms need turbines to survive has also not been made convincingly either.
The way forward is to ensure that Cornwall Council develops a green energy policy for the whole county. Wind energy can form a part of this, but there needs to be basic zoning policies. As David Flynn so rightly says (August 15th) we should not agree to wind turbines within AONBs under any circumstances (and should carefully consider their impact in areas of great landscape value). He also says, ‘these things have a tendency to breed’ and that will be very true for our parish if we let any go ahead within our AONB.
I suggest that wind turbines should be located in agreed areas that farmers and other supporters can buy (subsidized) shares in in order to benefit directly by receiving subsidized electricity/ and or profits – this has been a model in Germany for decades – you don’t need the turbine next to your house. All this should be part of a whole green energy strategy. We should request Cornwall Council to take time out to consult widely to discuss all the relevant issues/ balance different forms of energy generation/ etc and thus produce a strategy that agrees with other national and Cornish policies, strongly supports farms alongside other businesses, and which everyone agrees is the product of a democratic process.
in this particular case (Castle Dewey) we should apply the same logic as we applied to Bofindle – no turbine in an AONB regardless of size. The health, visual amenity, wildlife (it is useful to view also the scientific literature on physical and breeding damage to wild birds and bats which is widely available and cannot be jokingly dismissed) arguments apply regardless of size of turbine. We have to be consistent and make no exceptions.
Some people believe that there should be no wind turbines anywhere at all. Others , equally fundamentalist , think they should be built anywhere and everywhere. I suspect though that the majority opinion lies somewhere in the middle .
Personally I would like to see all future commercial wind farms put out to sea where they get uninterrupted exposure to the wind and also have a positive ecological impact by effectively creating an artificial reef system under water.There is though a sound case for allowing isolated single turbines on land where the size and location of the turbine is sympathetic to the landscape.
In our own case we decided not to persue permission for one at Whitewalls where, although a good exposed spot it would have been extremely prominent in the landscape and in our view would have detracted from the peace and tranquility of Carburrow Tor ( we were also dead against the Davidstow turbines for the same reasons). However , down here at Castle Dewey it seems to us that a small 15 metre turbine – i.e. treetop height – would be unobtrusive and to some eyes even an adornment to the landscape. I was brought up in a part of the countryside where there were wind vanes pumping water up every hill . To my view they were an attractive part of rural life – and incidentally I don’t remember ever being peppered with bits of dead owl , I don’t buy that part of the anti-argument at all.
The most cherished characteristic of the Cornish countryside is the patchwork of small fields and stone hedgerows. These will most likely continue to exist just so long as the communities of relatively small farmers continue to be viable. But if they once become uneconomic and farms are consolidated into big holdings then the chances are that this charming and intricate landscape will be gone for good. So, frankly within reason anything that can financially support the independence of these farms has to be a good thing.
Having said all this I should just ‘fess up that not only are we incomers, we are also ‘hobby’ farmers and organic to boot – all of which gives us a social status somewhere on a par with the common garden snail.
http://www.thisiscornwall.co.uk/100-object-turbine/story-16727908-detail/story.html
How our parish meeting was said to have gone
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Here’s an interesting paper ~ Mitigating the Acoustic Impacts of Modern Technologies: Acoustic, Health, and Psychosocial Factors Informing Wind Farm Placement by Daniel Shepherd and Rex Billington, published in the Bulletin of Science Technology & Society, August 2011.
What should be clearly understood by everyone is that renewable energy is like motherhood and apple pie – we are ALL in favour of it. The objection is to putting wind turbines in an Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty. Besides, these things have a tendency to breed!
I refer to myself as an ‘incomer’ because that is what Cornish people have called me since coming here to live in 1991. I think most people understand it to be someone not born or bred in the County.
Well done Gill Keast,totally agree with all you say.
As to the title of ‘incomer’,maybe you should be asking this question of the two people that have described ‘themselves’ as incomer.As far as I’m concerned it’s anyone who is’nt Cornish born and bred.