Cotton Farm Action Group
   Say NO to Cotton Farm Wind Farm - Graveley - Toseland - Great Paxton - Offord Cluny - Offord D'Arcy - Yelling
                 
Welcome

Energy giant Npower-renewables, part of RWE Group, is proposing to construct 8 massive wind turbines, up to 127m (416ft high) - amongst the largest in the UK - at Cotton Farm on the plateau overlooking the Ouse Valley in Cambridgeshire.

This website is run by a campaign group comprising residents from the surrounding villages of Graveley, Toseland, Great Paxton, Offord Cluny, Offord D'Arcy and Yelling. Its purpose is to provide information for local residents. The group's detailed objections to the proposal are set out on the Objections page.

If, once you have considered the information on this website, you are opposed to the proposed wind farm, please visit the Support page to register your views.

If you are still undecided but would like to discuss the issues further or find out more, please contact one of your village representatives (contact details) or contact Bev Gray on 01480 830868.

We also welcome any general comments, views, information for the website etc - please visit the Feedback page.

"How Could It Affect Me”

The turbines would be enormous, completely out of scale with anything else in the landscape. They would be visible up to 30km away. To appreciate how tall 127m is, note that St Paul's Cathedral is only 108m (354 ft), Ely Catherdal is 66m (215 ft) and the wind turbine at Wood Green is a mere 43m (141 ft). They would be 27m (74 ft) higher than the turbines at Kettering and Warboys.

The wind farm would drastically change and industrialise an otherwise rural landscape. The site, was used as an airfield in WW2, but the runways were removed more than 35 years ago and it has since reverted to "green field" arable farmland. The sense of space and tranquillity, with wide skies and uninterrupted views across the Ouse Valley would be lost to the detriment of all those who enjoy the landscape – including walkers, cyclists and riders.

The Scottish Executive now supports 2km as a separation distance between turbines and the edge of villages to allow for the visual impact on local communities (lesser distances being justified only on a case-by-case basis). (Scottish Planning Policy SPP 6 Renewable Energy) Unfortunately, there is currently no such provision in England.
Noise day and night, both in terms of volume and the particular type of sound generated is a serious concern - especially with houses as close as 600m away.
The rotors turn at around 15-30 rpm but the blade tips can be travelling at around 200mph. These can easily kill or displace birds and bats, including those visiting the important migration site at Paxton Pits Nature Reserve - only 2.5km away.
According to the BBC's online "wind-farm assessment tool", 590 houses may experience interference with transmissions from Sandy Heath and Waltham. A joint report (PDF format) by the BBC and Ofcom confirms that "Wind turbines affect reception up to a maximum distance of 5 km", "it is often impossible to avoid such problems completely" and that "both analogue and digital terrestrial reception can be affected." There may also be effects on radio and mobile phones.
There are many horses within 1km of the turbines and riders are a daily feature of local roads and bridleways. Sun flickering on metal rotors can easily "spook" a horse - with potentially dangerous consequences for riders and other road users.
Construction and commissioning would take 12 months. During that time huge quantities of ready-mixed concrete would be delivered - potentially 25-30 deliveries a day - with predictable consequences for road surfaces and traffic.
House prices and saleability are also a concern. Would you prefer to buy a rural house in a village with eight of the biggest wind turbines in Britain looming over it or one in a rural village without the turbines?

Perhaps most worrying is that there are plenty of examples where the grant of planning approval for a wind farm "opens up" the area for further wind farm development. If 600m from the nearest village is seen as acceptable then one can imagine many "suitable" sites along the high ground between here and Cambridge - with the devastation to the landscape which that would entail.

" … But We Have To Do Something About Climate Change ...”



True. Nobody disputes that renewable energy is a good thing. It's not a question of whether or not wind farms should be built; it's a question of whether the benefits of locating this sort of wind farm specifically at Cotton Farm are sufficient to overrule some very real negative impacts - particularly on the landscape and character of the area.

In reality, on-shore wind power is not going to solve the climate change problem. It is a relatively inefficient means of generating electricity - turbines only operate when the wind is between around 10 and 56 mph. Total electricity produced is only about 25-27% of their potential.
The impact on reducing CO2 emissions has been controversial. In 2007, claims made by Npower in this regard were found by the Advertising Standards Authority to be in breach of their rules relating to "truthfulness", "substantiation" and "environmental claims" - [source - ASA website].

The point, in relation to Cotton Farm, is that the positive environmental contribution of the eight turbines to greener energy is too small to justify the negative environmental impact on this part of the Cambridgeshire landscape.

"... But Npower-Renewables Clearly Think It's Worth Building..."

The main incentive for such developers are the huge subsidies available. According to new industry figures quoted in the Sunday Times [see 27 Jan 2008 Sunday Times article], eight 2MW turbines would generate around:

  • £1.6m a year revenue from electricity and
  • £2.4m a year in taxpayer subsidies for the developer.

With a proposed operating life of 25 years the initial cost of around £2m per turbine would be recouped in 4 years leaving many years of healthy profit.

As Peter Atherton, head utilities analyst at Citi Investment Research, told the FT: "It's a bonanza. Anyone who can get their nose in the trough is trying to." [Financial Times - 4 Feb 2008]

The whole policy of subsidies is coming under increasing criticism but while they remain there is every incentive for a developer, such as Npower, to overstate the benefits and underrate the drawbacks of building new wind farms in particular locations.

[For a useful analysis listen to the BBC Radio 4 "Costing the Earth" programme - click here

For more detailed information on all of the above points please visit the Objections page.

To register your opposition and to find out more about what you can do, visit the Support page.

If you are still undecided but would like to discuss the issues further or find out more, please contact one of your village representatives (contact details) or contact Bev Gray (contact details). (Contact details for Npower are also included on our Contacts page).

 
Latest ... more news »

Andrew Lansley MP backs Wind Farm objectors.

Andrew Lansley CBE, MP for South Cambridgeshire, has told objectors to the proposed Cotton Farm Wind Farm, for which an application to Huntingdonshire District Council is expected shortly, that he will join with his colleague, Jonathan Djanogly MP (Huntingdonshire) in opposing it.

Andrew Lansley said,

“Wind turbines can make a useful contribution to renewable energy but they must be well sited. The proposal at Cotton Farm would be highly visually intrusive. It would dominate rural and landscape views over the Ouse Valley and views from villages like Graveley.

A major concern is the issue of noise. Low-frequency noise, especially at night, from turbines means that they must not be located close to people’s homes. The Scottish Executive supports a 2 kilometre separation distance. However, Cotton Farm turbines would be just 600 metres from the nearest properties in Graveley.

There are on-shore and, increasingly, off-shore sites for wind farms which are far better options for both efficient energy generation and in terms of environmental impacts.

It makes no sense to damage the environment in this part of Cambridgeshire, which will be stressed enough with the rate of development we are accommodating.

The Government’s renewables obligation is distorting the energy market and encouraging speculative bids for wind farms in sites which do not satisfy best overall environmental criteria.

So, if an application is submitted, I will join with my constituents in Graveley and my Parliamentary colleague in opposing it.”

6th May 2008 - Click for Press Release in PDF format.

Please Sign Downing Street Petition

"We the undersigned petition the Prime Minister to establish an automatic buffer zone of at least 2 km between any new industrial size wind turbine and any home." -

Click here
to sign the petition and please encourage as many others as possible to do so too. (The 2km buffer has found support in the Scottish Executive - see below - but not yet in England).


Accident with Aeroplane Destroys Action Group Blimp

The Action Group's 20ft "Stop the Wind Farm" blimp flew over Great Paxton on May 10, but only for ten minutes before what seems to have been a collision with an aeroplane ruptured the blimp and it fell to the ground. The plane is thought to have been flying below the 500ft limit since the blimp was tethered at 417ft – the height of the wind turbines proposed for Cotton Farm.

Nevertheless, a replacement blimp was soon flying and could be seen from many miles away with clear sightings from Hail Weston and all along the Ouse Valley Way.

See press release for more details and keep an eye on the website for forthcoming flying dates.


What the proposed turbines might look like in action

This photo-montage, put together by one of our supporters, shows what the turbines might look like working.


[Scale calculations not yet verified]

T Shirts For Sale

Colour: White
Sizes: M, L & XL
(S subject to demand)
Design: Small logo on the front
Cost: £7 (+pp if reqd).
Collection or local delivery free
Contact:
Jeff Tossell
01480 880441
jhtossell@yahoo.co.uk

Latest Newsletter

14.3.08 - click here (PDF)


Latest Press Release

02.05.08 - Click here (PDF)


Print a Poster

see below


Help Distribute Leaflets

see below


Register Support

click here


Feedback

We welcome your feedback, ideas and comments - click here


Please Write to Protest!

Please write to your parish councillors, district councillor, MP and to the planning officer at HDC. Letters to Planning Services should not be sent before the planning application has been submitted as they need to include the application reference number. Letters sent before the application is submitted will need to be sent again post-submission, with the reference number on. We will post the correct contact and application number on this website once they are available.

If you want to write to your parish councillors, district councillor and MP, please do that now. Letters from individual residents are influential and the more letters received, the stronger our case becomes. There are a range of issues that you can cover, but the ones that are considered ‘material’ for planning purposes are noise pollution, visual impact, problems for wildlife and impacts on the settings of listed buildings. In the light of recent turbine collapses, safety issues may also be relevant, especially for residents whose houses are closest to the proposed turbines. Your letter need not be very long - the main point is to register your objection.

Although many people will feel strongly about issues such as house saleability and the scandal of high indirect subsidies, these are not considered to be relevant planning issues and, while letters can mention them, comments on one or more of the ‘material’ issues listed above must also be included. Shadow flicker may be a problem for some homes, but as Npower now say they can install sensors on turbines that will switch them off at the times of day during which shadow flicker has been identified as a problem, this is not a strong weapon in our armoury.

Please click here for the relevant mailing addresses

Printable posterPrint Your Own Poster

click here to download a poster you can print (PDF format).

Alternatively, collect A4 or A3 posters from Jeff Tossell (address).

Beware of vandals – many posters have been ripped down and some placards stolen, so please store any placards from your garden in your shed, etc, at night.

Health & Safety Concerns

Wind turbine destroyed by storm - see what can happen if the wind gets too strong! - YouTube - 22.2.2008

See Objections page for more

For More News - see News page

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See Photos page for more

 

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Content: Copyright © Cotton Farm Action Group 2008
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Ken Drysdale