News and Information for the Village of Byfield, Northants, UK

Windfarm

BODDINGTON WIND FARM

scroll down for further PRO & Anti comments

Pro Lobby

The next Community ‘Drop in’ day will be hosted in the Lower Annexe of Byfield Village Hall on Tuesday 20th September from 10am to 7pm.  The final ‘Drop in’ day will be held on 15th November.

A member of the project team will be available to answer any questions, to explain what has happened, and what is expected to happen, at the proposed turbine site near Boddington Reservoir.

If you are unable to attend but would like further information on their work at Boddington Reservoir, or the planning application they have submitted, contact the Communications Manager for Partnerships For Renewables (PfR), Stuart Barnes, on 0800 731 7395, or e-mail him at pfr@communityrelations.co.uk.

Further information can be found online at www.pfr.co.uk/boddington.

Following the submission of our planning application in mid February, Daventry District Council is now consulting on the proposals we have put forward for a single turbine to the north of Boddington Reservoir. Details of the planning application are available on the project website (including photo montages and all associated environmental Assessment and planning documents) at www.pfr.co.uk/boddington.

 

We are delighted that both Friends of the Earth Northamptonshire, and an independent advocacy group called the Pro Wind Alliance, are backing our planning application. In addition, we have had confirmation from the Royal Society for the Protection of Birds (RSPB), that they are ‘Satisfied with the standard of the Environmental Assessment’, and have ‘no objection’ to the proposal.

 

The public consultation that Daventry District Council are undertaking is an important element of the planning process and will provide the planning officer and members of the planning committee with an understanding of the local community’s view of the proposed wind turbine. In order that this view is an accurate one, I think it is important that both opponents and supporters of the proposals have their say.

 

You can make your views known during the consultation period via any of the following methods:

 

  • Writing to Daventry District Council, using the following contact information and quoting ‘Application Ref: DA/2011/0150’ :

Eamon McDowell,

Development Control Manager

Development Control Department

Civic Offices

Lodge Road

Daventry

NN11 4FP

 

 

  • Visiting the Friends of the Earth ‘Press for Change’ Climate Campaign webpage at:

http://www.foe.co.uk/campaigns/climate/press_for_change/boddington_reservoir_27053.html

 

 

If you have any questions about the planning application, please visit the project website at www.pfr.co.uk/boddington, or call 0800 731 7395.

ANTI Lobby

ACTION REQUIRED BY 6 APRIL.

Daventry District Council have now validated the PFR application at Boddington which means you have until 6 April to object.

The reference number which must be quoted when objecting is DA/2011/0150.

You can object either by:

a) Email to emcdowell@daventrydc.gov.uk or

b) Letter to Eamon McDowell, Daventry District Council, Lodge Road, Daventry, Northants, NN11 4FP

Please share this information with friends or neighbours who you think may be impacted by this devleopment and encourage them to object if they are concerned about the proposal. You may forward this email or print it and circulate it as you wish.

SUGGESTED GROUNDS FOR OBJECTION

You may wish to consider using some elements of the following text to construct your objection together with any advice you may have received from your parish council. You can copy and paste the text below into your own email or letter and tailor according to your needs. If you have any problems or need any help in constructing your objection letter then please drop me an email and I will be very happy to help. If you have any other points of objection which you think would help others please send them to me and I will forward to the group.

1.The development (DA/2011/0150) will have an adverse visual impact on local amenities eg viewing points, nature reserves and footpaths. I am very concerned about adverse impact on popular viewing points

  • Footpaths around the reservoir
  • Footpaths in the Byfield, Boddington, Priors Marston and Priors Hardwick area
  • Parking areas on Hellidon Road which has some of the finest views in Warwickshire stretching over Northants and Oxfordshire. These are popular picnic areas and some 50 signatures were put on boards placed at these locations from people who were against the proposed development.

2. Photomontages are not compliant with best practice (SNH guidelines) – for example turbine lighting is incorrect and there are distracting features in the foreground. This means the montages do not fully represent the adverse impact of the turbine, which will be excessively large and industrial and out of keeping with the immediate buildings and landscape  It will dominate the local environment, eroding its natural beauty and changing the character of the area.

3. I am very concerned about the impact of construction traffic on local roads and I am particularly concerned about impact to The Twistle and the bridge at Boddington Road. Construction traffic and alterations to the roads will cause significant disruption to local residents, road users, pedestrians and cyclists. I am also concerned about risk to road safety as the proposed route to the construction site makes extensive use of Rightracks roads. Rightracks is intended to reduce accidents on rural roads, however the proposed route includes two of the eight most dangerous routes in South Northamptonshire based on collision data in Rightracks for the period 2005 – 2007. The impact of exceptional loads and a large number of heavy goods vehicles on this route is likely to increase the risk of accidents.

4. I am very concerned about impact to wildlife and feel the Environmental Statement understates the risks and impacts of the development

  • Proposed development is adjacent to several nature reserves and placing such a development in this area risks breaking up links between these reserves with adverse impact to the wildlife. This segregation of nature reserves is further compounded when  the nearby HS2 route is also taken into account.
  • Many bats and many species of birds frequent this area, including rare species eg red kites. There have been examples of bats and red kites killed by turbines at other wind farms. It is unclear how this development would meet the Natural England tests around ‘necessity and no reasonable alternative with less impact’. There have been well publicised sightings of red kites near the reservoir yet the PFR surveys claim not to have found this species.
  • Protected Great Crested Newts are present in the area and adjacent watercourses, however PFR claim not to have located any during their surveys.

5. One of the reasons I chose to live in this area is to enjoy the leisure amenities available. This development will severely impact my enjoyment of these amenities for example:

  • Bird watching at Boddington Reservoir – the proposed development will adversely impact this past time as it will result in fewer birds and reduced diversity of birds
  • I enjoy cycling, walking and horse riding around Byfield and Upper Boddington. I choose this area to enjoy its natural environment and great views. Both the construction activity and the turbine itself will change the environment and introduce additional risk in undertaking these activities. When taken into account with the cumulative effects of the proposed HS2 development the loss / impact to leisure amenity becomes even more acute.

6. Given that the proposed HS2 rail link is in close proximity to the turbine I, along with other local residents, have expressed concern about cumulative impacts. To date no information has been provided on this topic despite the planning officer drawing it to the attention of PFR in his review of their scoping of the environmental statement and the route being well publicised and now subject to public consultation.

7. When including cummulative impacts of other windfarms, PFR has not included the well publicised proposal by Lord Spencer to develop 13 wind turbines of 118m tall on the nearby Althorp Estate. I feel the failiure to include this development in the cummulative impacts assessment does not enable me to understand what this development will do to the local environment.

Should the worst happen and this planning application be approved, we would request the following conditions be applied:

  • A condition that connection to the grid must be underground.
  • A condition that if the turbine is inactive for more than 6 months then it must be dismantled. The area is known to have a low wind speed, it’s in a valley, these turbines are a relatively new design and given these risks if it doesn’t work it should be dismantled
  • The proposed development site is a rural, agricultural area and should be returned completely to this form after the 25 year period has expired. A condition should be imposed that all concrete, footings and tracks are removed at the end of the period to prevent the risk of creeping industrialisation.
  • Given that PFR is a new organisation there is a low level of certainty that it would still exist in 25 years to execute on these undertakings to return the site to its current condition. To address these risks an appropriate financial mechanism should be established e.g a ring fenced fund being created once the project is constructed which would cover the costs of dismantling.
  • A condition that if the noise generated by the turbine is above that quoted by PFR for more than 48 hours then the turbine should be shut down until the noise level can be reduced to the agreed level.

BACKGROUND INFORMATION

More details of the proposal for a 122 metre tall wind turbine can be found at either

1. www.pfr.co.uk/boddington

2. the bottom of the page at Daventry District Council website http://www.daventrydc.gov.uk/environment-and-planning/planning/planning-development-control/wind-farms/

ANTI Lobby – stopboddingtonwindfarm@gmail.com

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PRO Lobby

Community Drop-in Days Announced For Boddington Reservoir Wind Energy Project
Partnerships for Renewables has been carrying out environmental and technical studies on British Waterways land near Boddington Reservoir since August 2009. The company has announced future community ‘drop-in’ dates ahead of plans to submit a planning application for a single wind turbine to Daventry District Council early in 2011.
Regional Manager at Partnerships for Renewables, Tony Duffin, commented: “While we hope to submit a planning application early next year we recognise that following the submission of the planning application members of the local community will continue to want to discuss our work with us. To this end we will continue to hold community surgeries at Byfield Village Hall throughout 2011.

“The community surgeries will continue to supplement the other routes members of the community can take to find out further information. We would encourage anyone to contact us with any queries and the website (www.pfr.co.uk/boddington), phoneline (0800 731 7395) and email address (pfr@communityrelations.co.uk) continue to be available.

“We appreciate that having any form of development proposed in your local area can be of concern and we take a great deal of care to ensure that we provide accurate information to local residents. We were concerned when a leaflet, promoting a public meeting locally, was brought to our attention which contained several inaccurate statements. Because we felt the statements were clearly inaccurate and designed to make residents nervous about any future application we approached the Advertising Standards Authority to challenge the statements.

“On notification of the complaint received by the ASA, the authors were not able to provide evidence to substantiate the claims and confirmed that they would not repeat them in future. Having received this feedback we have confirmed that we will not take any further action but would like to encourage anyone who have been concerned by information contained in the leaflet (which carried a picture of a double-decker bus) to raise their concerns with us and we will aim to provide them with any additional information they might require.”

The leaflets, used to promote a public meeting in August, made unsubstantiated claims about the potential wind energy project near the reservoir, including:

  • ‘Minimum of 3, but up to 15 turbines’;
  • ‘Scientific papers confirm the noise and vibration created can be heard 10km away’;
  • And ‘You can be sure all house prices will be badly affected’.

Future community drop-in days to take place in 2010/11. The events will be hosted in the Lower Annex of Byfield Village Hall, between 10am and 7pm on the following days:

  • Tuesday the 17th of May 2011;
  • Tuesday the 19th of July 2011;
  • Tuesday the 20th of September 2011; and
  • Tuesday the 15th of November 2011

Photo Montages

Partnerships for Renewables is pleased to be able to provide local residents with an idea of how a development at the Boddington Reservoir site may look. We have produced Photo Montage images taken from various locations in the local area, aimed at providing people with some idea of the likely effect that a single 122m turbine might look at the site. For more information on photo montages and to see the images please visit the ‘Photo Montages’ page on the project website at: http://www.pfr.co.uk/boddington/298/About-the-Project/3231/Photo-Montages/

Project details

Our studies show that at this stage a single 122m turbine development could be possible with an overall capacity of 1.5 megawatts. A single turbine of the type used by Partnerships for Renewables, installed in an appropriate location, could generate the amount of electricity consumed by approximately 713 average households.

As this electricity is generated without burning fossil fuels, it displaces more than 1,412 tonnes of CO2 annually.

Note: The environmental benefit figures are based on a 1.5 megawatt site, operating with a 25% capacity factor; average household electricity use of 4,602kWh per annum; and the electricity generated displacing electricity generated from CCGT / average fuel mix – approx. 430gCO2/kWh.

ANTI Lobby

On 15th February Partnership for Renewables (PfR) submitted their application for a single 122metre wind turbine on land owned by British Waterways just north of Boddington Reservoir.
My understanding is that application will be validated by Daventry District Council (DDC) during the next two weeks. This task appears to be an administrative activity to ensure all relevant paperwork has been provided.

If the application is validated then the standard 21 day consultation period will commence for objections and comments to be made. Please note this is my interpretation of the process and I am not an expert – if you have specific questions then please contact Eamon McDowell at DDC, his email is EMcdowell@daventrydc.gov.uk.

The planning application contains a huge amount of information. It can be accessed now at the PfR website which is:

http://www.pfr.co.uk/boddington/3303/Planning-Application/3304/Planning-Application—Accompanying-Documents/

You may find the non-technical summary a good place to start but some review of the planning statement and environmental statement will be necessary to get a good understanding of the project.
PfR have issued a press release regarding the application which I understand will appear in the Daventry Express. There has been disagreement between local residents and PfR that the application should not have been submitted before information regarding construction impacts and printed photo montage images were shared with local residents. The Daventry Express may also cover this perceived lack of meaningful consultation with the local community.
PfR have arranged community briefing sessions on 28 Feb at Byfield village hall and on 1 Mar at Boddington village hall. Both sessions will run from 1pm to 6.30pm.
Please can you take a minute to complete the following survey to assess initial reaction to the planning application.

http://www.surveymonkey.com/s/WKN7LBY

I will be in touch again, probably once the application has been validated by DDC, to provide guidance on how to object to the application should you wish to object.

Please share this email with anyone who you belive may be impacted by the development, ask them to send me their email list and I will add them to our mailing list which is now 100 strong. If you don’t wish to receive future updates please let me know and I will remove you from the mailing list.