The bid by Peel Energy,carbon
plate to build nine 126 metre-high turbines on land between the villages of
Widdrington and Hadston, is being recommended for approval by county council
planning officials next week.
Originally, the scheme was intended to be the first phase of the ￡200m Blue Sky Forest tourism and leisure project, which is proposed on three former opencast mining sites in the Widdrington area.
Earlier this year the Widdrington Regeneration Partnership (WRP) – the organisation behind the Blue Sky Forest vision – withdrew its support for the Peel Energy scheme. The U-turn came after the county council approved plans by another green energy firm, Infinis, to build four massive wind turbines at the former Sisters opencast site near Widdrington.
The prospect of the four Infinis machines – together with 13 turbines already built around the nearby Alcan site at Lynemouth – led the WRP to conclude that the area can’t take any more.
The WRP is now objecting to the Peel Energy application, and claims approving it will jeopardise the Blue Sky Forest development. In total, 50 objections have been submitted to the council, including opposition from all four parish councils in the area, along with four letters of support.
In its objection letter, the WRP, which has been talking to potential developers in a bid to get Blue Sky Forest off the drawing board, says the nine turbines will not provide any infrastructure for the scheme, and will be “detrimental” to its development.
Carolanne Coomber, clerk to Widdrington Parish Council, said: “If this proposal was approved, Widdrington Village would be almost ringed about by huge industrial-sized wind turbines.”
The parish council also claims it could jeopardise the potential for up to 1,500 jobs through Blue Sky Forest – which includes an international-standard golf course and academy, a sports academy,adhesive film an Olympic-size swimming pool, an artificial ski slope, 300-bed hotel and man-made lake for watersports.
A report to next week’s planning and environment committee, by senior planning officer Joe Nugent, says the Blue Sky Forest project is still at the pre-application stage, and can only be given “limited weight” when assessing the wind farm bid.prepreg Dealing with the issue of the cumulative impact of wind turbines on the area, Mr Nugent says the Peel Energy and Sisters developments would be close enough to each other to appear as “a single wind farm” from many views. He added: “The effects on the wider landscape would be no more significant than for the schemes on an individual basis.”
In addition, planners believe that, taken together with other turbines already built at Lynemouth, Cramlington and Blyth Harbour, the scheme would not result in an unacceptable impact on the local or wider landscape.
Originally, the scheme was intended to be the first phase of the ￡200m Blue Sky Forest tourism and leisure project, which is proposed on three former opencast mining sites in the Widdrington area.
Earlier this year the Widdrington Regeneration Partnership (WRP) – the organisation behind the Blue Sky Forest vision – withdrew its support for the Peel Energy scheme. The U-turn came after the county council approved plans by another green energy firm, Infinis, to build four massive wind turbines at the former Sisters opencast site near Widdrington.
The prospect of the four Infinis machines – together with 13 turbines already built around the nearby Alcan site at Lynemouth – led the WRP to conclude that the area can’t take any more.
The WRP is now objecting to the Peel Energy application, and claims approving it will jeopardise the Blue Sky Forest development. In total, 50 objections have been submitted to the council, including opposition from all four parish councils in the area, along with four letters of support.
In its objection letter, the WRP, which has been talking to potential developers in a bid to get Blue Sky Forest off the drawing board, says the nine turbines will not provide any infrastructure for the scheme, and will be “detrimental” to its development.
Carolanne Coomber, clerk to Widdrington Parish Council, said: “If this proposal was approved, Widdrington Village would be almost ringed about by huge industrial-sized wind turbines.”
The parish council also claims it could jeopardise the potential for up to 1,500 jobs through Blue Sky Forest – which includes an international-standard golf course and academy, a sports academy,adhesive film an Olympic-size swimming pool, an artificial ski slope, 300-bed hotel and man-made lake for watersports.
A report to next week’s planning and environment committee, by senior planning officer Joe Nugent, says the Blue Sky Forest project is still at the pre-application stage, and can only be given “limited weight” when assessing the wind farm bid.prepreg Dealing with the issue of the cumulative impact of wind turbines on the area, Mr Nugent says the Peel Energy and Sisters developments would be close enough to each other to appear as “a single wind farm” from many views. He added: “The effects on the wider landscape would be no more significant than for the schemes on an individual basis.”
In addition, planners believe that, taken together with other turbines already built at Lynemouth, Cramlington and Blyth Harbour, the scheme would not result in an unacceptable impact on the local or wider landscape.
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