The Local Issues
This is Shakespeare Country –It must be defended
“Ask not what your countryside can do for you
Ask what you can do for your countryside”
We owe it to our future generations
WHY WE ARE SAYING NO! TO WIND TURBINES HERE
The Issues
There are many reasons for rejecting the erection of 400’ wind turbines in the Vale of Feldon. Turbines are a Blot on the Landscape
Turbines are huge and will be a desecration of all we hold dear. These turbines will be higher than the London Eye, higher than Salisbury cathedral and the blade tips will be higher than the Burton Dassett hills.
And because they’ll be moving they’ll more readily catch the eye.
And they are grossly Inefficient because…
The energy they can produce is Intermittent. Wind Turbines are dependent on the wind, which is variable.
A study by the John Muir Trust showed that because of this variability, output from wind farms metered by the National Grid is often less than 10% of their capacity.
In last year’s record breaking cold weather – Wind Turbines produced just 2.5% of their capacity.
This means that every wind turbine has to be backed-up by a conventional source of power.
As Professor David MacKay (chief science advisor to the government) put it…”even if 10% of the country was covered in Turbines they would still only generate 16% of the nation’s energy needs”.
Wind Turbine Energy is hugely expensive
Research at Cambridge University has shown that, thanks to the Government Subsidy, the Government’s reforms would increase our energy bills by 32 per cent.
The Industry regulator, OFGEM, has already calculated that the cost of achieving sustainable energy targets will mean that annual household fuel bills will, on average, double to about £2,400 within the next 10 years.
With family budgets under enormous pressure…this is a luxury we cannot afford.
Surely Wind Turbines are really good for the environment: don’t they reduce CO2 emissions?
Sadly, no!
The Turbines in our country are supplied mainly by German and Spanish companies and largely manufactured in China.
The carbon footprint of the manufacturing process, the great distances the components have to travel and the concrete used at the base are extremely high in the emission of CO2.
A recent report from the Netherlands shows that the wind projects do not fulfil ‘sustainable’ objectives. They cost more fuel than they save and they cause no CO2 saving. To the contrary they increase our environmental ‘foot print’.
A decision to invest Billions in the construction of on-shore turbines.
The report showed that there are no savings of CO2; there’s actually an INCREASE.
And bad for our Health
The following video is from Australia. However, the issues are exactly the same for us here in Warwickshire. These health issues are REAL and a problem for us all.
A Paper by Dr. Carl V Phillips (August 2011) Bulletin of Science, Technology and Society states:
“There is overwhelming evidence that wind turbines cause serious health problems in nearby residents, usually stress-disorder type diseases”
This is a health issue, dismissed by turbine developers, but now recognised as a health issue by the High Court’
The Court recognised that AM causes Sleep Disturbance – and other symptoms such as headaches, dizziness, nausea
Do not underestimate the damage to your health of a lack of sleep
The turbine developers lie easy in their beds counting their subsidised £millions whilst we struggle to give our children and elderly a decent night’s sleep.
Why are Five 400’ Turbines totally wrong for the Vale of Feldon?
Location, Location, Location
This is the Vale of Feldon. Shakespeare country.
That’s the same Shakespeare voted in a Demos poll – Britain’s #1 Cultural Icon
This is an area of unspoilt open countryside; a medieval landscape, (virtually unchanged since Shakespeare’s day) of high hedges, red bricked and stone houses
Burton Dassett Country Park with its wonderful views enjoyed by over 65,000 visitors a year
Who of them wants to see Turbines and Electric Pylons trampling across our rural landscape?
Our Feldon Ecology
The British Trust for Ornithology data show this area is home to 87 bird species and is also an important migration route. This is a species rich area (click here for further details)
We have Great Crested Newts and Golden Plover (both highly protected species)
Buzzards are now abundant and there have been sightings of Red Kite
And Bats – who are especially vulnerable to wind turbines (their lungs explode!)
Viability
The government is insisting that the turbines must now be shown to be economically viable as part of the planning consideration. Yet we live in a valley!
And the Localism Bill will banish Regional Renewables Targets in favour of Neighbourhood Development Plans. We will be back in control of our own destinies.
Some important issues are now being “tested” in the High Court. Noise and Proximity to Houses are two of the main issues. Most countries (except the UK) has a 2KM “set-back” distance from houses – we have no restrictions on how close these turbines can be to people’s properties.
A Call to Arms
Friends, neighbours, and those of you that treasure our rural landscape; if you share our outrage at this appalling development, you should immediately write to Stratford District Council strongly OBJECTING to five 400’ turbines causing devastating damage to character of the Feldon Vale.
The easiest way to do this is to click on the link to OBJECT on this Website.
Visual Impact
Do you remember when the M40 was built? Millions were spent to ensure that the visual impact would be reduced by sinking the motorway below the horizon. The views from Burton Dassett were considered vital to the county at that time – why would that have changed? Feldon Vale and the M40. The HS2 rail link are also now contemplating spending millions more to ensure they do not spoil the views from the Chiltern’s to Birmingham – will the government do the same for these industrial turbines and the ensuing infrastructure.
Flight paths and Radar
This picture says it all. I am sure that most of the local residents have spotted the low flying military aircraft in this area. We have the super jets that fly over (usually in pairs) at high-speed and extremely low (feels like they could take the roof off your house!!) as well as the helicopters coming into and out of DM Kineton. These supersonic jets have also flown over the proposed site in the evenings. How can these planes is such close proximity to the turbines, and flying so low be safe??
Pylons and connection to the local Grid
Access to the proposed turbine site
Other Issues to be aware of
There are several issues surrounding the application for a wind farm. The Developer will have produced an Environmental Impact Statement. It is the finding of this EIS that we have to question. We have to show that their finding are either correct or incorrect. For example, they may say that the proposed site is in a species poor area. We then have to prove that this is incorrect by having our own ecology survey carried out. This is time consuming and expensive. The planning application relies on several published reports. See Documents and Reports page for further info and analysis of some of these reports.
There are several areas that are based on studies or government policy
PPS22 (Government policy on renewable energy)
Planning Policy Statement 22 (PPS22) sets out the Government’s policies for renewable energy, which planning authorities should have regard to when preparing local development documents and when taking planning decisions. Click here for details of PPS22
ETSU-R97 (noise issues)
ETSU-R-97 is used throughout the UK to assess wind farm noise in planning applications. It has been incorporated into PAN45 in Scotland and PPS22 in England. Nevertheless it is a thoroughly flawed document and does not deserve the prominence it has been given. Noise is a serious issue. You can see more details here. For full review of ETSU-R-97 Why it is Wrong.
RICS Survey 2007 (housing issues)
The detailed finding can be seen here. The survey has been shown to be flawed by many and we have a library of correspondence from Estate Agents and potential buyers in the area stating they did not purchase the property due to the imminence of a wind farm
