Public Inquiry told area is becoming a "Windfarm Lanscape"
Many residents of the North West, including some of the most beautiful areas in the region, will recognise the comments made to a Public Inquiry by a landscape expert this week.
Derek Woolerton, a landscape consultant and environmental planning consultant, was giving evidence on behalf of Copeland Borough Council when he told a planning inquiry that the number of wind turbines in West Cumbria has reached the point where they are becoming a very noticeable feature of the landscape.
"Their presence is widespread, wherever you go in West Cumbria you are likely to see a turbine" he told the inquiry.
Many people in other parts of Cumbria, in Lancashire, and indeed in many districts in the North West would say exactly the same about their own localities.
I support the development of renewable energy, but it is not sensible for too high a proportion of the power supply in any given area of the country to come from a source which only works if the wind is blowing at the right speed.
There are already 90 onshore wind turbines in Copeland and Allerdale and several enormous offshore wind farms operational or planned off the Cumbrian cost from Robin Rigg in the Solway Firth to the West Duddon windfarm planned off Walney Island and those around Barrow.
We've reached the point in the North West where it is time to look for other new sources of energy, from new nuclear build at Sellafield to Hydro-electric power to Shale Gas (provided the safety and environmental issues can be resolved.) And we must also look aggressively for ways to save energy.
Derek Woolerton, a landscape consultant and environmental planning consultant, was giving evidence on behalf of Copeland Borough Council when he told a planning inquiry that the number of wind turbines in West Cumbria has reached the point where they are becoming a very noticeable feature of the landscape.
"Their presence is widespread, wherever you go in West Cumbria you are likely to see a turbine" he told the inquiry.
Many people in other parts of Cumbria, in Lancashire, and indeed in many districts in the North West would say exactly the same about their own localities.
I support the development of renewable energy, but it is not sensible for too high a proportion of the power supply in any given area of the country to come from a source which only works if the wind is blowing at the right speed.
There are already 90 onshore wind turbines in Copeland and Allerdale and several enormous offshore wind farms operational or planned off the Cumbrian cost from Robin Rigg in the Solway Firth to the West Duddon windfarm planned off Walney Island and those around Barrow.
We've reached the point in the North West where it is time to look for other new sources of energy, from new nuclear build at Sellafield to Hydro-electric power to Shale Gas (provided the safety and environmental issues can be resolved.) And we must also look aggressively for ways to save energy.
Comments
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2362762/The-dirty-secret-Britains-power-madness-Polluting-diesel-generators-built-secret-foreign-companies-kick-theres-wind-turbines--insane-true-eco-scandals.html
If the overconcentration of Wind Farms in this area gets any worse I may change this view and start submitting personal objections on the basis that the entire locality is being damaged.