BOROUGH COUNCIL OF AGENDA ITEM

Regulatory Committee - 16th July 2003

Report of the Director of Environment and Economy

APPLICATION REF: KE/03/559 ( Borough Council reference)

PROPOSAL: TEN WIND TURBINE GENERATORS, ANEMOMETERY MAST, SUBSTATION AND ASSOCIATED INFRASTRUCTURE.

LOCATION: LAND AT BURTON WOLD FARM, BURTON WOLD, ROAD, (KETTERING BOROUGH).

APPLICANT: BURTON WOLD WINDFARM LIMITED.

PROPOSAL:

This is an application being dealt with by the Kettering Borough Council for a number of wind turbines and associated structures in the centre of a triangle of land bounded by the A14 to the North, the A510 Thrapston Road from to the East and the A6 Burton Latimer bypass to the West. None of the application site is in this Borough but the Borough Council is one of the consultees as the Local Authority adjoining the site.

PLANNING HISTORY:

All of the land subject to this application is in agricultural use.

PLANNING POLICY:

The main Policy that is relevant in relation to this matter is Policy G24 of the adopted Borough of Wellingborough Local Plan.

CONSULTATIONS:

At the time of writing this report, no details of views from any of the Kettering Borough Council’s consultees on this application had been received.

ASSESSMENT:

This is an application for a total of 10 wind turbines and associated structures. Each turbine will be of a three bladed design and will be a maximum height of 60 metres to the rotor hub. The maximum rotor diameter will be 80 metres. It is estimated that the site could provide energy to up to 35% of the homes in the Kettering Borough.

In general terms, the Government is encouraging renewable energy schemes such as this. Furthermore, Policy G24 of the adopted Borough of Wellingborough Local Plan encourages such developments provided they contribute towards a reduction in the emission of pollutants, do not have an adverse effect in visual or amenity terms and they do not impact on areas of landscape, nature conservation or archaeological interest.

The proposal will contribute to the reduction of greenhouse gas emissions to the atmosphere because any electricity generated as a result of it will not have to be generated by fossil fuels.

In landscape and visual terms, the turbines will have a significant effect on the immediate surroundings and it is estimated that they will be visible from settlements such as , , and Finedon in this Borough together with the edge of Wellingborough town. However, in the overall landscape, it is considered that they will not feel ‘out of scale’ and therefore a refusal of the application on visual grounds is not considered justified.

In amenity terms, the nearest property in this Borough to the proposed turbines is Poplar Lodge on the A510 Thrapston Road from Finedon. This is approximately 650 metres from the closest turbine. This would appear to be sufficiently distant so as not to be adversely affected by the noise resulting from this proposal. However, it is considered that advice should be sought from the Kettering Borough Council’s Environmental Health Officer before the application is determined to confirm the situation on this point.

On nature conservation grounds, some interest has been found in the site. However, a mitigation programme is suggested and, providing this is carried out, the wind farm is only likely to result in a minor level of negative ecological impact.

In terms of archaeology, there is also some interest in the site. In the report accompanying the application, it is recommended that evaluation work and a watching brief are required before and during construction works.

RECOMMENDATION:

That the Kettering Borough Council be advised as follows:

Subject to your Environmental Health Officer being satisfied that the proposal will have no adverse amenity effects on nearby properties in terms of noise and acceptable mitigation measures being agreed for any nature conservation and archaeological interest in the site, no objections are raised to this application.