Newsletter Number One. Oct 2005

A small working party has been set up to oppose the plans to erect two 43 metre Wind-Turbines at Withymoor Farm, (Grid ref: SO 674.241) and find out more about Wind-Turbines issues at other locations. This Newsletter seeks to keep the communities of Aston Ingham, Aston Crews, Gorsley, Kilcot and Linton informed.

The Story so far.

Following the meeting at Gorsley village hall on the 22nd Sept, the jungle drums have been working and the flyers have been circulating. Over 50 households have expressed real concern about the idea of having two 43 metre height turbines adjacent to Withymoor Wood on Beavan Hill. However, there are still people who don’t know about the scheme. Please spread the word. “The Turbines threat is coming”
The company behind this threat is Green-Amps Ltd. The Withymoor site is part of a bigger scheme to install 42 turbines at 18 sites, principally in Gloucestershire. This proposal has strayed into Herefordshire because of the GL18 postcode overlap. We are aware that Green-Amps has only made initial enquires of the planning dept in Hereford. Nevertheless, at this time we see this as an early wake-up call of what could come.
Green-Amp’s CEO Mr Brown is the face of the company. He fronted the meeting in Gorsley where he stated that he would only install turbines in single pairs. No two locations would be closer than 5-8 miles apart. However, at a public meeting in Lydney 29th Sept he revealed that there are 3 pairs of turbines being proposed adjacent to the river Severn. One pair at Rodley, and two pairs at sites in Lydney which are less than two miles apart. When questioned about this, he disclosed that at 2 other sites the farmers had requested four turbines to be installed and he has agreed. Thus 20% of the sites in the Green-Amps Ltd scheme breach the policies stated by its one man band CEO. How can we trust this man?
The proposed turbines at Withymoor have not yet been tested in the field. The claims made by Mr Brown about lower noise are based on design intent and not proven fact. Mr Brown stated at the Lydney meeting “All of Gloucestershire is a Guinea pig” referring to his untried and untested turbine design. Can we trust this Design?
At the Gorsley meeting Mr Brown promised to fly a balloon from the proposed site at a height to represent the turbine, which has a 43 metres tower of 1 metre diameter, plus 13 metres for the blade. That makes a total height of 56 metres (182 feet), the same as Nelson’s Column. The community in Rodley were promised the same at their meeting with Mr Brown on the 16th August, and they are still waiting. Does this man keep his word?
At all the community meetings Mr Brown holds the single turbine installation at Faccombe just south of Newbury as a glowing example of success. He invites everyone to go and view the installation which is similar in size, but not the technical specification for the Withymoor proposal. The turbine is indeed a similar height and has been installed for about six years. It is on a private estate, so we don’t suppose the locals had much say in its installation. However, we are pleased to able to report it is being taken down. The bad news is that it’s being replaced with a much bigger and taller Turbine. This could easily happen at Withymoor Farm.
We have pressed Mr Brown for another community meeting, this time at Aston Ingham Village Hall. He has promised to do this when the photomontages are complete. He also says he is concerned the Village Hall maybe too small, it only holds 72 seated people. We will keep you advised about Mr Brown and his promises.

If you support or are interested in helping fight this proposal please ring Martin or Jane Bradney 01989 750862 . e-mail: HVHAC@aol.com PTO

Paul Keetch. MP. http://www.paulkeetch.org.uk/
Following a meeting with Mr Keetch last week, he is now fully aware of Withymoor Farm proposal and fully supports our campaign to prevent the Withymoor Turbines going ahead. He stated
“I am not against renewable energy, but the site has to be appropriate”

Question Time.
Answers to questions which have been asked by people in our community.

Will our House Value Suffer?
A study by the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors suggests that wind farms have no lasting impact on UK house prices. This study is supported by evidence at wind farms in England, Scotland and Wales. It shows that house prices recover from any initial impact once a wind farm has been operated for two years.
Source: DTI Renewable Energy FAQs. www.dtigov.uk/renewables/renew_1.1.2.2.htm
However, please remember if you are selling at the moment you will have to declare there is the threat of wind-turbines in the area.

What about the Noise Factor?
The Turbines proposed are direct drive units so there is no noise from a gearbox. However, noise will come from the aerodynamic properties of the rotating blades. This unfortunately is the most intrusive, and comes from the effects of the blade moving through the air and the industry has had virtually no success in controlling this. The noise is a penetrating, low-frequency “thump” each time a blade passes the turbine tower – reminiscent of the reverberating bass notes of a discotheque at a neighbour’s noise party, or of a helicopter in the distance. The genuine difficultly that developer’s face is that noise levels cannot be predicted in advance. Despite the weight of evidence the wind industry has a history of dismissing the noise problem, particularly when it is “consulting” the population of an area targeted for a wind development or presenting information in support of an application.
Source: The Case Against Wind“farms” May 2000 Country Guardians

What the Real Experts are saying.

Extract from The British Wind Energy association. Myths about wind Energy.
A modern wind turbine produces electricity 70-85% of the time, but it generates different outputs depending on the wind speed. Over the course of a year, it will typically generate about 30% of the theoretical maximum output. This is known as load factor. A modern wind turbine will generate enough to meet the electricity demands of more than a 1000 homes over the course of a year.
The full text can be viewed at www.bwea.com/energy/myths.html

Extract from 19th May 2005 press release from Renewable Energy Foundation.
The Sustainable Development Commission’s (SDC) “WIND POWER” report, was today dismissed as fundamentally flawed by The Renewable Energy Foundation (REF)
The document attempts to force acceptance of wind energy despite its negative impacts by leading the reader to infer that wind turbines will avert climate change. This is not the case. The facts show that while wind has a role, it can only make a minor contribution.
The full text can be viewed at www.countryguardian.net/PressRelease19.05.05.pdf

Useful Addresses and Web Links.

Green-Amps Ltd. 2 The Dairy, Park Farm, Ramsbury, Marlborough, Wiltshire, SN8 2HW.http://www.futurewind.co.uk/
For those of you with access to a computer an excellent site about Turbines and their impact is http://www.countryguardian.net/
Link to map showing proposed location of turbines

http://www.streetmap.co.uk/newmap.srfx=367433&y=224154&z