PRESS RELEASE 16th SEPTEMBER 2007

THE WIND OF CHANGE

Have our local planners finally woken up to the fact that rural communities do not want unsightly, inefficient, noisy industrial wind farms built in our countryside.  If the latest decision to reject an application for a wind test mast at Syderstone (proposed Chiplow wind farm) is anything to go by, the answer appears to be YES.  The Development Control Board (DCB) of West Norfolk Borough Council recently rejected the application owing to the clear understanding that it is the precursor to a wind farm application.  If the DCB are now rejecting test mast applications it does not bode well for any other greedy developers trying to bring forward planning applications for wind farms in West Norfolk including the proposal at Marshland St James.

It is very interesting to note the difference in the way that the local Parish Council at Syderstone handled this application compared to the Parish Council at Marshland St James.  As soon as Syderstone Parish Council heard about the test mast they went out of their way to consult their Parishioners and even called a Parish Poll to ask their parishioners if they wanted the development.  As a consequence both the Parish Council and the local parishioners (via the Parish Poll) rejected the application which ultimately led to the DCB throwing it out.  What a difference to the Marshland St James Parish Council who 11 months after the test mast was erected are still refusing to even put it on the agenda at Parish Council meetings let alone call a public meeting or hold a Parish Poll!!!  However a Poll has now been organised by a group of concerned residents but the date is yet to be confirmed – watch this space.  What has happened at Syderstone clearly demonstrates that the Marshland St James Parish Council has failed miserably in its representation of the local people who elected them.  If they had handled the test mast application in the same way as Syderstone, they may have been able to prevent the development moving any further and we would not be in the position that we are now.

It is however also important to note that the wind farm developers may now be able to overcome the need for planning permission for an anenometer by using a new high tech piece of wind measuring equipment that is less than 2 meters high and uses lasers to measure wind velocity at up to 150 meters.  An example of such a piece of equipment is called ZephIR (made by QuintiQ) and can be viewed at www.quintiq.com.  FLAT would obviously be very interested in any sightings of such equipment because any such sightings would clearly demonstrate that the proposal is now back on track.

The FLAT Committee