Response to Wiltshire Core Strategy Focused Consultation
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Response to Wiltshire Core Strategy Focused Consultation Amendment to Core Policy 42 on Standalone Renewable Energy Installations, Proposed Change Reference 180 THE CASE FOR MINIMUM DISTANCE EXCLUSION ZONES AROUND DWELLINGS This representation relates to Wiltshire Council’s “Schedules of Proposed Changes to the Wiltshire Core Strategy Pre-Submission Document”. We consider the consultation material being commented on is legally compliant and sound. We support the Amendment to Core Policy 42, Proposed Change Reference 180, and wish to be part of the Examination Process. This Response Document has been prepared by the STOP GRANGE FARM WIND FARM campaign group, c/o Elizabeth Winchcombe, Secretary SGFWF, West Ashton Village Hall, Bratton Road, West Ashton, Trowbridge, Wiltshire BA14 6AZ. Email: [email protected] Mrs Carole Tocher (resident near a single turbine at Roscarnick Farm, Blackwater, Cornwall) Letter appearing in local press, West Briton, nr Truro, Cornwall 27 Sept 2012 ____________________________________________________________________________________________________ ONSHORE LARGE WIND TURBINES : SEPARATION DISTANCES FROM DWELLINGS (WILTS) OCT 2012 Page 1 FOR WILTSHIRE COUNCIL : CORE STRATEGY CONSULTATION 2012 Renewable Energy: Onshore Wind – Large Wind Turbines Separation Distances THE CASE FOR MINIMUM DISTANCE EXCLUSION ZONES AROUND DWELLINGS CONTENTS Page Executive Summary 3 Introduction 4 The Issues Medical Reviews 5 Noise, Low-Frequency Noise (LFN) & Light Effects 7 Turbine Failures & Physical Danger 10 Community Projects 12 Policy Precedents 12 Wiltshire & the Planning Process 19 Political Views 20 Legal Comments & Opinion 22 List of Appendices & Source documents 23 Appendices 1-19 25-88 Prepared by STOP GRANGE FARM WIND FARM campaign group, Wiltshire www.stopgrangefarmwindfarm.com Email: [email protected] 31 October 2012 ____________________________________________________________________________________________________ ONSHORE LARGE WIND TURBINES : SEPARATION DISTANCES FROM DWELLINGS (WILTS) OCT 2012 Page 2 EXECUTIVE SUMMARY The larger the wind turbines and the closer they are located to residential premises, the greater the effects on people’s health, safety and residential amenity. Wiltshire Council’s proposed policy would greatly reduce these effects. There are a significant number of well documented cases where local residents have had symptoms of sleep disturbance, headache, nausea and ear pressure caused by the repetitive swishing beat of turbine blade rotation. Many families have had to move home to relieve these symptoms. According to the World Health Organisation, sleep deprivation can lead to cardiovascular disease, and where noise has a high proportion of low-frequency sound, as wind turbines do, the problem is exacerbated. In addition, shadow flicker or strobe effects, when the sun or moon shines through rotating turbine blades, can also be intrusive and harmful particularly to those who suffer from epilepsy. Some of these effects on the health of local communities living close by to large wind turbines will have already been compounded by the years of worry and uncertainty even before construction, as the planning and appeal process took its course. The body of medical evidence and interest in relation to large wind turbines and human health is increasing. Regions where large turbines have been installed close to homes for over a decade have led the way in this field, notably the USA, and Danish, German and Australian doctors are now demanding greater recognition of the problem by government. Methodologies and calculations used to assess issues of turbine noise and other residential disturbance within Planning processes are outdated and require urgent and wide-scale, unbiased, reanalysis. Large onshore turbines produce forms of noise, vibration, air pressure and light disturbance which impact the surrounding areas in varying forms depending on periods of turbine operation, location and weather conditions. These by-products of the energy production process have negative effects on people living in close proximity, but not everyone living nearby will be sensitive to the effects to the same degree, or will register the effects within any specific time period. With ever larger and heavier onshore turbines now being erected, in greater numbers, with many in relatively near proximity to houses, the risk assessment for local residents must not be based on a hitherto lack of serious injuries, but on the potential for injury or serious property damage when large turbines are placed near dwellings, given that failures and collapses do occur. It should not take a freak accident where a piece of 40m blade is hurled into a home for standard separation distances to be increased significantly above the conventional 500-600m as at present. Smaller turbine installations and Community Wind projects remain available options under a sensible and graduated Separation Distance protocol. It is inaccurate and highly misleading for opponents of the Wiltshire Core Strategy Amendment to claim that all forms of wind generation are banned by the use of such a measure. What Wiltshire Council’s Amendment will do, besides protecting the health and safety of residents at risk from nearby wind farms, is to remove a large degree of uncertainty from the planning process. This process can take years for a final decision. Wiltshire’s minimum distances will save time, costs and worry for all stakeholders. Across the developed world, many governments, both national and local, are now acknowledging the impacts on health and wellbeing for residents close to large onshore wind turbines. Steps towards improving protective legislation are being made, and, where the ____________________________________________________________________________________________________ ONSHORE LARGE WIND TURBINES : SEPARATION DISTANCES FROM DWELLINGS (WILTS) OCT 2012 Page 3 onshore wind industry is more advanced than in the UK, such acceptance of the health effects and protective measures to limit proximity to dwellings leads the current position of the UK Government by some considerable margin. With the passing of the UK’s Localism Act (2011), the national government encouraged, and paved the way for local governments to take their own measures and enact their own legislation, responsive to local opinion and need. Political opinions differ according to personal experience, party-political pressure, locality, and MP’s responsiveness to the impacts on constituents and constituencies, at both national and local levels. Concerns over the economic costs, efficiency, subsidies paid (often to large, non- UK tax-registered development corporations) and impact on residents’ health and property values all play a part. Certainly, a large and growing number of MP’s are now leading on these issues, including Energy Minister John Hayes. A High Court landmark case was brought by Lincolnshire residents against a landowner and developer, which finally settled out of court in December 2011. If the case had been decided by the court the situation for onshore wind turbines within even 1km of homes could today be very different, which is doubtless why the developer agreed to settle. Residents suffering negative effects from large-scale wind turbines have hitherto struggled to gather evidence and build cases which would have legal weight, in part due to the fact that a strong case requires evidence from prior to turbine installation, and sadly, many people affected do not realise the potential impact, or expect to be affected to the extent they are. They therefore often find themselves in a position where they can’t seek legal redress, may not be able to sell their home and move, simply can’t afford the costs, or are suffering such depression and stress that they cannot cope with the additional stress a legal action would bring. Due to greater awareness of the risks to residents by communities, planners and local authorities, the number of legal actions will increase. If Wiltshire Council’s amendment is passed by the Inspector, we would see yet another benefit from Policy 42, as the need for legal action should evaporate. Local communities, local authorities, renewable energy developers, indeed all stakeholders, could then start working together, at least in Wiltshire, to enable a sensible renewable energy policy to be implemented. INTRODUCTION In connection with national government policy to encourage renewable energy sources, reflected in Wiltshire’s Core Strategy developed over the past 2-3 years, since 2010 two proposals for large industrial scale (i.e. >25 metres height to blade tip) onshore wind turbines within Wiltshire have been made, namely Ecotricity's application at the Honda Plant in Swindon and Renewable Energy Generation's proposal for Grange Farm, West Ashton. (Enclosed DVD produced for the Illwind campaign in Swindon. Examples of noise and shadow flicker footage are included with dramatic emphasis to clearly explain them to those who have never seen them at first hand.) The Core Strategy consultation, running from 22 September to 1 November 2012, provides an opportunity to reflect on the appropriateness of minimum separation distances between wind turbines and Wiltshire residents' homes. Therefore Wiltshire Council’s inclusion of a graduated separation distance/exclusion zone between large wind turbines and domestic homes is strongly supported, and our elected Councillors and the Planning Inspectorate are appealed to, to confirm and