Alaska wind farm, East Stoke, this is the view from Stokeford properties we are looking forward to seeing, all we have to do is ensure the Council Planning Board know that the quiet majority are supportive.
Purbeck District Council will be considering a planning application for a wind farm.
The four large turbines (each 2.3MW) will be situated on the Puddletown Road, west of Wareham.
This is the website of the campaign to get these turbines built.
NEWSFLASH......
Council's decision date now pushed back to September, the wait goes on.
Plans have now been resubmitted under reference number 6/2010/0082.
The community consultation is now closed but you can still support this project by attending the Planning Board meeting, we'll post the date here once it's announced.
This is an important step for Dorset and everyones opinions should be heard, information should be factual and not misleading.
 Quote from Sir David Attenborough on the threat from man-made climate change... "I am 80 now. It's not that I think, like any old man, that change is wrong. I recognise that the world has always changed, I know that. But the point is, it's changing more extremely and swiftly than at anytime in the past several million years and one of the things I don't want to do is look at my grandchildren and hear them say. "Grandfather, you knew it was happening and did nothing." NASA’s top scientist, Prof. James Hansen, tells us that business-as-usual would be a guarantee for global disasters.  Massive Falsehoods Admitted... Anti wind groups have been known to make misleading statements to back up their hatred of wind farms... ASA Adjudication on STOP Swinford Wind Farm Action Group, click here... ASA Adjudication on Vale Villagers Against Scottish Power, click here... | We are a group of local people, independent of the developers, who are deeply concerned about the effect our burning of fossil fuels is having on the environment and the inevitable prospect of diminishing resources. We believe wind farms are a vital and benign step to a clean, green, sustainable future. If you would like to contact us, email: wind4dorset@hotmail.co.uk and if on Facebook, join our group - 'Say yes to wind power' Note on independence; For technical advice we have turned to Derek whose blog can be found on this website. Derek is a consultant who is paid for a small amount of his time, the rest of us are all volunteers who receive no funding from the developers. Graceful icons of hope ... For all the arguments about wind farms, it usually comes down to one thing - visibility. Lots of people like to see them, regarding them as aesthetically pleasing, others do not. But with the hard realities of climate change and diminishing oil and gas reserves, do we really have the luxury of choice? Allowing for wind variability, this wind farm will generate over 21 million domestic units (kwh) per year, that's enough to power around 5,000 homes! Every kw a wind turbine produces is a kw that a conventional power station doesn't have to burn a fossil fuel to produce. Fossil fuels have allowed Humans to dominate the World like never before. All other natural eco-systems are in decline, along with our own resources. The rate at which humans are changing the World means we have to face up to some tough challenges. We have a moral obligation to take responsibility for our power generation so lets start there and lets start generating clean electricity. NIMBYism is threatening to prevent us from turning away from dirty fuel and embracing a clean energy (r)evolution. |
Short film on 100% renewable energy. Yes we can shut fossil fuel power stations.
George Monbiot talks to the head of C.P.R.E.
Comments are now flooding in to the Council, both for and against the proposal.
As this is the website for supporters - here are a few cracking good ones....
As this is the website for supporters - here are a few cracking good ones....
From a resident on the Puddletown road... Dear Sirs, Planning application no. 6/2010/0082, Windfarm at Masters Pit We are writing to strongly support this application, We own and occupy a property approximately one mile to the east of the application site, and the proposed wind turbines will be clearly visible to us. We attended Infinergy's consultative seminar on the original application in November 2008 and have read the revised Non-Technical Summary (NTS). We would like to comment on a few aspects of the application. VISUAL AMENITY Many objectors claim that the turbines would be a "blot on the landscape" citing proximity to the Dorset AONB. A much greater intrusion is the scars caused by the many sand and gravel quarries in the area, which are obvious from the Purbeck ridge and elsewhere. As the NTS says, "the gravel workings are an identifiable feature in the landscape". Since the windfarm site is actually in one of these quarries, it cannot be said that it will add to the visual degradation already in existence. NOISE Wind turbines generate little noise, and what noise there is can be heard as a soft background. By contrast, residents along the Puddletown Road and the A352 are already subject to frequent, excessive and disturbing noise pollution from the Army firing ranges. There is no comparison between the wind turbine noise and these intrusive and unexpected episodes, which are like living in a war zone, ROAD TRAFFIC The Puddletown Road already has a sub-standard road surface, due to frequent large HGV traffic from the quarries and tracked vehicles from the Army, The windfarm will not worsen this situation, and could improve it, if as a planning condition the applicant can be tasked to contribute to the maintenance and repair of the road. AIR TRAFFIC Large military helicopters have been observed to use the Puddletown Road as a low flying navigational aid en route to and from the Bovington camp. The windfarm will be a significant obstruction on this route and the low flying procedures will have to be constrained to avoid it. This will be beneficial to Puddletown Road residents who are often disturbed by this activity, AVAILABILITY Continuous anemometer monitoring at our property, a mile from the windfarm site, has shown that the windspeed at 6m height has exceeded the 3m/s threshold for operation for 26% of the time over the last 18 months. Given that availability at turbine height will be greater, this compares well with the national average figure of 30% availability. It is reasonable to suppose that the Puddletonw Road ridge is therefore, a good site for wind resource. NEED Both the application and the landowner's supporting letter make much of the need to meet legally binding targets and to combat climate change. These are worthy objectives but irrelevant in context. Targets are artificial and unenforceable, and climate change is already inevitable, even if Britain were to turn off its entire electricity generation overnight. On the other hand, security and diversity of electricity supply Is an essential strategy. The electricity supply industry has already repeatedly warned of the likelihood of enforced power cuts within the next decade. Every new windfarm is a means to prevent this outcome. and finally a visitor from Swindon... Dear councillors, I love this part of the country. I don't live here at the moment, but like to visit the area on holiday, I do have a wind farm I can see from my window. You can't hear them at all unless you walk right up close, then you hear a swish as the blades go by. It gives me great joy every time I see them to think how they are peacefully generating electricity without using up resources or causing pollution. Despite widespread objection before windfarm was built, which unfortunately led to reducing the size and thus amount of electricity generated, after it was built it is very popular, locals are proud of it and visitors love it. You are lucky to have good windy locations near the coast. I do hope you make the most of it and grant this application. | From a Wareham resident... Dear Mr Boyt I am writing to you in support of the proposed Alaska wind farm - application number 6/2010/0082 As a local person^^^^^^^^^^^, I will be among the first to take them to visit the new wind turbines and to explain to them how they are helping to protect our environment by reducing the amount of coal and gas we need to burn to power our electricity dependant lives. Despite the growing awareness among the general populous of the challenges of population growth, climate change and peak-oil, we (or our institutions, from Government down to Parish Council, and everything in between) seem completely unable to grasp the seriousness of the situation and to actually take any positive action. I was dismayed recently at the refusal for permission of the wind turbines in Gillingham. Now is the time to take the lead in Purbeck and Dorset, and show people that we do take the world's problems seriously and are prepared to do our bit to help. I am fully aware of all of the technical objections to wind farms (noise, flicker, danger to wildlife etc.) but I believe that the Alaska farm proposal has done everything in its power to mitigate these. As i have made several trips to Wales and Scotland, where I have seen several wind farms up close at first hand, I have to say that the noise from modern turbines seems negligible to me. Which leads me onto what I think is the only reasonable objection to these particular turbines, which is that they can be considered unsightly. Clearly this is a matter of opinion and I personally have no problem with the aesthetics of the proposal, I am far happier to have wind turbines producing clean electricity where I can see them, than Palm Oil plants causing untold damage to Indonesian forests out of sight for example. I have heard the objection that the wind farm will be visible from the Purbeck hills, but frankly, so what? Poole is visible from the Purbeck hills, as is Winfrith. Four turbines making a small visual impact in the far distance pale into insignificance alongside existing visual detritus. There is no unbroken view of the countryside from the Purbeck hills. The sight of four wind turbines will not detract from the visual landscape in any way, but it might cause people to stop and think about energy generation and to connect those thoughts to their own lives. I look forward to hearing that my local council has acted in the best interests both of local people and the wider population and granted permission to the scheme. |
(1) Source: Sustainable Development Commission report, 'Wind Power in the UK'
