Louth Canal Farm Wind Energy Project

I had a wind assisted cycle ride to Tedder Hall yesterday morning to speak in support of the above three turbine 7.5MW wind farm. Louth Canal farm wind energy the vote went 11-0 for refusal.

I spoke of the purpose of onshore wind in the context of global warming and energy security, there was a  good number of supporters for the project at the meeting but all to no avail.
The usual reasons for anything but wind were given, citing effects on tourism, loss of view for one particular resident 680m from the site, the combined,cumulative effect of this proposal when considered with other proposals that have yet to be approved (not sure how that works..sort of  anticipation of cumulative effect?), the harm caused to the setting and significance of local churches and listed buildings. (English Heritage described this as less than significant).

Whether the developers will appeal we'll have to wait and see. Here's the conclusion of the planning inspector's decision letter on the approval of Gayton-le-Marsh wind farm just to give a little glimmer of objectivity.

"Because of the urgent need for more installed RE to meet the 2020 targets, the bar of acceptability must be set low enough for sufficient schemes to be permitted. Onshore wind energy schemes in particular utilise a reliable and mature technology, can be deployed economically and use a plentiful resource. Many other possible sources of RE are expensive, at an infant stage of development or cannot be implemented quickly. I doubt that, in the short term at least, alternative technologies for renewable electricity generation will mature to the level that would be necessary to make wind energy unattractive as part of the overall mix. It is therefore my overall conclusion that, under these circumstances, the additional harm to the local landscape which would arise from the appeal scheme would be within the bounds of acceptability, especially bearing in mind that after 25 years, the wind farm would be decommissioned and there would be no lasting landscape impact."

Our communities are sleep walking into a energy and climate crisis and though central government seem to be waking up (albeit slightly bleary eyed)  too many people are still sound asleep and dreaming of a future in which everything is how they like it rather than how it will likely be.

What ELDC should do next...

After reading in full the planning inspector's decision letter on Gayton wind farm, there is an interesting reference to the lack of a "realistic context" within the ELDC's local plan with regard to wind farms.

"The Local Plan is of considerable age and there are no saved policies relating to wind energy development. Any commercial wind farm would fall foul of the saved policies relating to landscape protection and I have found that this scheme would therefore conflict with the relevant saved policies. However, the Local Plan does not provide a realistic context for considering wind farm schemes and is therefore out of date. The Regional Plan contains policies supporting renewable energy schemes whilst also aiming to protect the landscape and is consistent with the NPPF."

ELDC's latest Draft core strategy Oct 2012  has a chapter on renewable energy. It is the penultimate one, which may be an indication of the importance of renewable energy to the authors.

"The Council is keen to encourage the exploitation of a range of renewable energy sources that have potential in East Lindsey, including passive and photovoltaic solar, biomass, ground and air source heating and aquifer thermal energy where this will not impact adversely on local communities, biodiversity or landscape character."

Spot the missing technology!

By ignoring the potential of wind and it's importance to the government's strategy in the UK energy road map to 2020, ELDC are in danger of becoming an irrelevance in the planning process. This is not a situation that we should encourage or support, regardless of our views on wind turbine deployment.

The Council's position on all large scale renewable developments..including wind farms is further clarified further on in the chapter on renewable energy.

"Large-scale Renewable Energy developments will only be supported where they are located outside and do not have a significantly adverse impact upon: landscape areas defined as highly sensitive in the East Lindsey Landscape Character Assessment and areas adjacent thereto; the Lincolnshire Wolds Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty and where their individual or cumulative impact is not considered to have a negative impact on residential amenity; surrounding distinctive landscape qualities, townscapes and historic landscape character; the context of a historic garden, park, battlefield, designated conservation area or other Heritage Assets; sites or features of natural history importance or protected species; the local economy; highway safety; and water environment and water quality."

It is unrealistic of the council to demand that a large scale renewable energy development  should have no impact on the location in which it is sited. A wind farm by it's very size and construction will have visual impact on our landscape and many people would see that as negative in comparison to that which already exists.

The "realistic context" that the inspector refers to in the decision letter  requires our local authority to understand the challenges that face the nation's energy supply and accept the importance of wind farms (and other large scale renewable energy developments) to the UK's future energy mix. 

If our council wish to have a meaningful voice in the deployment of wind farms in our district they must adopt a strategy on large scale renewable energy development that reflects the importance of the issues involved at a national level and not on the purely parochial.

Gayton-le-Marsh wind farm gets the green light!

The good news from yesterday is that the 8 turbine wind farm proposed for Gayton-le-Marsh has been approved on appeal by the planning inspectorate.

It's been a long time coming but hopefully this substantial wind farm will be deployed without further delay and supply the equivalent of approx. 9,000 UK homes with electricity as soon as possible.

The report is well worth reading as it deals in some detail with the objections raised by the well organised
NOWAG group.

Inspectors report on Gayton wind farm appeal

One of the benefits of this scheme will be the community fund of £60,000 paid annually and divided between the surrounding parish councils during the lifetime of the project.

Please click on this chart for an enlarged view

I thought I'd keep a record of today's high winds that are helping to keep the lights on without burning the gas most people need to heat their home..it's 0 degC outside!
 Plus record this comment from Biff
"Yesterday, at 7.04am, a pump on the Zeebrugge-Bacton interconnector
failed and we lost almost a quarter of our gas supply.  The news reports
concentrated on the instant price spike, from ~90 to 150 pence per
therm.  The electricity generation industry reacted accordingly.
If you look at the graphs carefully, particularly the second row - the
weekly figures, you'll see the reduced supply from gas yesterday, coal
going flat out and the shortfall made up, rather luckily, by a windy
day. Things would have been a lot worse yesterday and today without that
5GW of wind."

Lincolnshire Wildlife Trust oppose Delph Wind Farm

Lincolnshire Wildlife Trust have objected to a wind farm being located adjacent to Willow Tree Fen and Pinchbeck Fen Slipe Nature reserves  LWT Delph wind farm and are encouraging LWT members to object too.
Understandable you might think as their primary concern will be the effects the wind farm might have on the species that inhabit the reserves.
But if you read on to the reasons for the objection you'll discover that 2 of the 3 reasons for objection relate to perceived disadvantages for our species.

The Trust's concerns are:

** Impacts of the turbines on wildlife, in particular birds, through direct collision with the turbine blades and displacement from the nature reserves due to disturbance from the turbines;

** Impacts on visitors to the nature reserves through noise and visual impact. Would the song of the skylark for example still be audible to visitors with wind turbines 200 metres away?

** Impacts on the fenland landscape character and open views.

The EIA undertaken by the developers indicates that there would be little impact to the environment from the development.

"A number of protected species use the site but collision risk impact assessments show that none of these species would be significantly effected by the proposed wind farm"
Wild Frontier Ecology

So we're back to the reluctance of our species to do very much about the serious impact of global warming in the future, if it means compromising our pleasures today.

I'm a member of the LWT and I appreciate all that they do for increasing bio-diversity and protecting habitats but that doesn't excuse this selfish objection which has very little to do with concern for wildlife on a nature reserve that 4 years ago was a field of beans.

Letter to the press ref: R. Helmer

Last week on Radio Lincolnshire Roger Helmer UKIP MEP declared that it was a “downright lie” to bring to public attention the growing scientific consensus that global temperatures will rise beyond “safe” limits unless we make drastic reductions in CO2 emissions.

Mr Helmer is UKIP’s spokesman on industry and energy. The following statements are from UKIP energy policy

Under the heading “Climate change” is so last century” Mr Helmer and colleagues make these statements ; “ We do not however regard CO2 as a pollutant. It is a natural trace gas in the atmosphere which is essential to plant growth and life on earth” followed by “Higher CO2 levels increase agricultural crop yields and “green” the planet”

These statements display a total disregard for the unequivocal science that supports the “greenhouse effect “ i.e. increasing emissions of greenhouse gases, of which CO2 is one, will warm up our planet.

For a more reputable global perspective comes this from the World Bank, a co-operative of senior government ministers from 188 nations around the world.

“Despite the global community’s best intentions to keep global warming below a 2°C increase above pre-industrial climate, higher levels of warming are increasingly likely. Scientists agree that countries’ current United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change emission pledges and commitments would most likely result in 3.5 to 4°C warming. And the longer those pledges remain unmet, the more likely a 4°C world becomes.”

Dr. Jim Yong Kim

President, World Bank Group November 2012     Why a 4 degree world must be avoided

The views of UKIP and Roger Helmer should be treated with the contempt they deserve for not only are they anti-wind they are anti-science too.

Here is a link to a radio debate I took part in this morning trying to balance the anti-wind campaign for 5 wind turbines at Temple Hill near Grantham.

My discussion with Paul Miley of the ReVolt group is at 1.06
Follow up comments from Cllr Martin Hill and Roger Helmer are at 2.06
Rod Whiting Show 08/03/13

Pretty much as you'd expect apart from a passing reference in Paul Miley's comments about the Pro wind alliance getting support and money from the wind industry and a text from a member of the public saying that the Lincolnshire Pro wind alliance is funded by the wind industry.

I'd just to make it perfectly clear that this is not the case. To put it plainly, we are not being rewarded to express support for wind farms.

Our view that more wind farms need to be rapidly deployed to help address the challenges of global warming and UK energy security is personal and genuinely held.

Thanks for your support
James