Council gets yet more turbine applications 

A host of applications have been submitted to build wind turbines in South East Cornwall.

In the latest set to arrive at Cornwall Council, three separate businesses are seeking permission.

Yet to be submitted are plans for three turbines at Mendennick Hill, between St John and Millbrook, which residents claim would tower over their communities.

At a public meeting about REG Windpower’s plans, local man Tim Bacon said the 2.5MW, 81m turbines would be controversial.

“You’re up against it; you will be opposed,” he told REG Windpower’s development manager, Tracey Siddle. “You just need to be aware that we are very concerned, and will be increasingly concerned as the process goes on.”

If approved, the turbines would be erected on a ridge close to the St John conservation area, making them visible from Dartmoor.

Ms Siddle said the turbines were the optimum design for the site and would put a lot of energy into the grid without creating the overbearing visual impact of something over 100m.

She said the earliest the plans would be submitted would be the spring or summer next year, but the firm had applied to erect a temporary 15.95m anemometer mast at Mendennick Farm to monitor the wind speeds in the area.

A separate company, Talland Bay Farm Estates, has applied to install two 11kW turbines of 18m hub height at Porthallow Farm, Talland Bay.

Adam Longfield, of the agents Natural Generation Ltd based in St Agnes, said: “It’s quite nice down in Cornwall to have the chance to put these up and for people to see them work. We make a profit but it’s good for Cornwall; it seems to be booming down here. Up north they’ve got coal and nuclear power stations, and they’ve had that for ever. It’s Cornwall’s turn to make some of the power.”

Mr Longfield said applications were very much driven by the financial side but, in the next couple of years, he was hoping to see more community projects, with locals reaping the benefits.

Landscape

Edwina Hannaford, who represents West Looe and Lansallos on Cornwall Council, said: “I’m generally supportive of renewable energy production.

“However, this application is within the Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty so we have to be sure the masts won’t have a negative impact on the special nature of the landscape and on the biodiversity of Talland Bay.”

A 50kW wind turbine, on a 25m mast with three 19.2m blades, is also planned for Goodmerry Farm, St Ive.

Thomas Worboys, of agent Pineapple Rural Ltd, said: “We’re being encouraged by the Government to generate our own renewable power to make each business a sustainable business. This is one person’s answer to the question of whether they can generate their own electricity. They have a recording studio, a house and a livery yard, so it’s going to offset whatever they currently use from fossil fuels.”

A turbine in St Cleer Parish, at Higher Gonamena, Minions, has already been approved.

It will measure 12.24m to the hub and 14.99m to the tip of the blade at top dead centre.