Tinbum wrote: ↑Thu Dec 01, 2022 12:52 pm
Oldgreybeard wrote: ↑Mon Nov 28, 2022 12:06 pm
I've never understood the opposition to onshore wind. I remember that when we were still living down in Cornwall in the 1970's and 80's, when the small wind farm near Chiverton Cross was built, right next to the A30, it quickly became a tourist attraction. Not unusual to see a dozen or more cars parked there, with people just looking at the turbines spinning.
It's always seemed to me that the objectors are a very tiny number of people that happen to be both vociferous and have influence.
Where I live their was very strong opposition to wind turbines, the main problem being the quantity. Our local village would have been basically been within a wind farm. If I recall from the roof of my house I could already see over 100 turbines. It seems once developers get permission in an area they just flood in. Now they are looking at doing a 3000 acre solar farm that will also virtually surround the village. It is split up, but to put that area in context, imagine an area of over 4.6 square miles of solar panels, that's a box with sides of over 2.1miles.
I can see the rationale for objecting to having a whole community surrounded with the things, but I can't help wondering if the reason for things like that happening are down to the planning system placing some really oddball restrictions on areas where wind turbines would be less of a nuisance. In general I'd have thought that communities aren't generally located in spots that are optimal for wind generation. There's a chalk ridge not far from us that would be ideal for wind turbines, no one lives up there, and it's already been heavily shaped by the hand of man, with various chalk carvings, even an airfield sat up on the top of it. It's an AONB, though, which makes it out-of-bounds for things like wind turbines.
Certainly around here, pretty much every village or town is in a valley, mostly for historical reasons, so people had shelter from the wind and easy access to water. There are very few towns or villages up on the higher ground, where wind would make more sense. Not sure how representative that is for the whole of the UK, though. It probably doesn't apply in the flatlands to the east of England, perhaps.
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