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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.
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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. |
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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. |
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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. |
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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. |
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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. |
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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. |
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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. |
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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. |
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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? |
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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.
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"
… But We Have To Do Something About Climate Change
...” |
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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.
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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. |
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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]. |
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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.
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"...
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). |
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 THE
PLANNING APPLICATION HAS BEEN SUBMITTED
The proposals have become a reality. A planning application
for a wind power station at Cotton Farm was submitted
by Npower to Huntingdonshire District Council on 30th
July 2008. The application and accompanying Environmental
Impact Assessment are available via the HDC website.
Follow
this link, then type in Application No.
0802296FUL and click on the "Search"
button.
We are waiting for HDC to advise us of the consultation
period, but it is likely to be six weeks and the Action
Group is preparing a comprehensive objection document.
The letter writing now needs to start in earnest –
to your local parish councillors, district councillor,
MP and the relevant planning officer at HDC. All the
addresses are available on
this site. Cotton Farm Action Group will be organising
letter writing events in local villages and will let
you have full details soon. Letters to Planning Services
should not be sent without the planning application
reference number (0802296FUL). See
below for guidance on relevant objections to include
in your letters.
PLEASE WRITE TO PROTEST
Please write to your parish councillors,
district councillor, MP
and to the planning officer at HDC.
Letters to Planning Services need to include the application
reference number (0802296FUL). Letters sent before the
planning application was submitted will need to be sent
again, with the reference number on.
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. |
*
STOP PRESS *
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Here for the very latest news and
updates
(PDF
format. This is updated more quickly than the rest of
the website).
Click
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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.
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 Village
Surveys
We are in the process of conducting house-to-house
surveys of local villages to find out the exact level
of opposition.
Results are now in for Graveley and Toseland and it
is clear that opposition to the proposed turbines is
overwhelming. Interim figures for Yelling and Gt Paxton
are reflected in the chart below.
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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]
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Dept for Business
Enterprise & Regulatory Reform (BERR) launch consultation
on UK Renewable Energy Strategy
 The
Government plans to build 4,000 more wind turbines onshore
- that is a huge number when you consider we have 2,000
now! They are inviting views from members of the public
and CFAG is currently preparing a response.
There is a very large consultation document. We would
encourage people to read the relevant chapters where
wind power is discussed, particularly The Executive
summary and Chapter 3. Deadline for responses
is Sept 26.
Click
here for the full details
Centre For Policy Studies publish "Wind
Chill - Why Wind Energy Will Not Fill the UK’s
Energy Gap" by Tony Lodge
The report concludes that:
"wind energy is proving to be an unreliable,
costly, uncompetitive and unpopular horse in the great
energy race. Overdependence on wind energy and the
resultant costs to electricity consumers risks plummeting
more and more families into the fuel poverty trap."
Click
here to read the report 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).
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