LOCATION/TYPE

NEWS HOME

[ exact phrase in "" • results by date ]

[ Google-powered • results by relevance ]


Archive
RSS

Add NWW headlines to your site (click here)

Get weekly updates

WHAT TO DO
when your community is targeted

RSS

RSS feeds and more

Keep Wind Watch online and independent!

Donate via Paypal

Donate via Stripe

Selected Documents

All Documents

Research Links

Alerts

Press Releases

FAQs

Campaign Material

Photos & Graphics

Videos

Allied Groups

Wind Watch is a registered educational charity, founded in 2005.

News Watch Home

Author Michael Morpurgo fights against wind turbine in Winkleigh’s ‘War Horse valley’ 

Credit:  By North Devon Journal | Posted: January 14, 2014 | www.northdevonjournal.co.uk ~~

Author Michael Morpurgo has opposed plans to build a 251ft (77m) wind turbine in the idyllic Devon valley which provides the rural backdrop to his book, War Horse.

Campaigners in the area have already complained that a rash of such renewable energy projects could destroy the nascent tourist industry which has grown up around the First World War epic, which has been turned into a successful stage play and hit Steven Spielberg movie.

It is the second time the writer – a freeman of West Devon – has actively campaigned by speaking out publicly against a wind power scheme.

Mr Morpurgo says he “vehemently” objects to the proposals for a site area between the villages of Iddesleigh and Winkleigh, an area in which he lives and last year described as an “oasis of peace and wonder, a paradise still far from the madding crowd”.

“It is not simply that I object to this application, which I do most vehemently, it is the principle that if we allow this to go through, where do we stop,” he wrote.

“We will have a random scattering of thousands of these huge wind turbines all over Devon, all over our countryside.

“It is that that I do not want, that I do not believe the people of Winkleigh want, and that now, it seems even the government says it does not want.

“If our democracy means anything, this should not and must not be allowed.”

The writer, who set up the Farms for City Children charity in the area, last year joined the campaign to turn down plans for a turbine measuring 145ft (44.5m) from base to blade tip at Combe Farm, Iddesleigh.

This application was refused by West Devon Borough Council but an appeal has been lodged by the developer.

It later has emerged that as many as five turbines could be built in the Okement valley, where the novelist’s moving story of a young farm boy and his horse, Joey, unfolds.

Locals heard details of the plans last Wednesday evening at a packed open meeting in Winkleigh Village Hall arranged by local parish councils.

The applicant wants to erect a turbine measuring 50m to the hub and 77m to the blade tip Bryony Hill Farm.

Almost 100 people have objected with only a handful either supporting or offering neutral views on the scheme, which is being handled by agents Mi-Grid, based in Blackwater, near Truro.

Penny Mills, chairman of the Campaign to Protect Rural England in the Torridge district, said the group had objected because of the potential “harm to the unspoilt landscape, to the setting of historic and heritage assets, proximity of people’s homes”.

She also points out the proliferation of turbines in the area – there are around 30 turbines already operating or in planning within six miles of Winkleigh – arguing that the cumulative impact would be “like living in a large wind farm which no one asked for and from which only a handful benefit”.

English Heritage has also come out against the application, concluding that it would affect a number of medieval churches in the area.

Within three miles there are four grade one and one grade two listed churches as well as four grade two listed churches, the conservation body said, describing the photomontage of the turbine as “overpowering and incongruous intrusion”.

Jenny Chesher, the South West inspector of historic buildings, said the application was “contrary to national planning policy” and should be refused.

“We would question the public benefit of a single wind turbine when weighed against the harmful impact on several highly graded heritage assets, particularly since extensive permission already exist for wind turbines in Torridge District,” she added.

Source:  By North Devon Journal | Posted: January 14, 2014 | www.northdevonjournal.co.uk

This article is the work of the source indicated. Any opinions expressed in it are not necessarily those of National Wind Watch.

The copyright of this article resides with the author or publisher indicated. As part of its noncommercial educational effort to present the environmental, social, scientific, and economic issues of large-scale wind power development to a global audience seeking such information, National Wind Watch endeavors to observe “fair use” as provided for in section 107 of U.S. Copyright Law and similar “fair dealing” provisions of the copyright laws of other nations. Send requests to excerpt, general inquiries, and comments via e-mail.

Wind Watch relies entirely
on User Funding
   Donate via Paypal
(via Paypal)
Donate via Stripe
(via Stripe)

Share:

e-mail X FB LI TG TG Share


News Watch Home

Get the Facts
CONTACT DONATE PRIVACY ABOUT SEARCH
© National Wind Watch, Inc.
Use of copyrighted material adheres to Fair Use.
"Wind Watch" is a registered trademark.

 Follow:

Wind Watch on X Wind Watch on Facebook

Wind Watch on Linked In Wind Watch on Mastodon