Published at 11:39, Wednesday, 08 July 2009

THE mayor blasted plans for more wind turbines and then withdrew her comments.

CLLR DOROTHY DAWES

By Richard Herbert

Suffolk-based SLP Energy wants to build two turbines – almost three-quarters the height of Blackpool Tower – in a field next to Rampside Road and Dungeon Lane.

Yesterday, Barrow Borough Council’s planning committee was presented with a draft scoping opinion about the project.

The report proposed which issues should be covered as part of a planning application for the turbines.

Barrow’s mayor and a member of the planning committee, Councillor Dorothy Dawes, said: “That’s just another hideous thing on the landscape.

“They produce very little electricity and they don’t produce anything when they’re not working.” Cllr Dawes went on to talk about the number of times she had seen the ones near Walney not working.

“To me they’re a complete unnecessary eyesore,” she said.

But when planning committee chairman Councilor Rory McClure pointed out the item before the committee was about a scoping opinion, not a planning application, Cllr Dawes said she retracted her statement.

The committee went on to agree the scoping opinion.

BAE Systems (Walney Airfield) has said: “Both turbines are within the safeguarded area for the aerodrome and would be considered a hazard to aircraft.”

A spokesman for SLP Energy told the Evening Mail in May that the project was in its early stages, with bodies such as Natural England, the RSPB and English Heritage also approached for ‘scoping.’

He said: “This is an opinion about what information should be included within an environmental impact assessment.

“This will help identify and focus on work on those areas which should be covered, as well as avoiding subsequent delays in dealing with a subsequent planning permission.

“The scoping report is based on wind turbines with a maximum tip height of 125m. At the top of the tower the three-bladed rotor would rotate at a maximum of approximately 15 revolutions a minute.

“The turbines would be painted mid grey to blend in to the skyline and would be built on foundations of reinforced concrete.”

The company estimates the two wind turbines would meet the annual electricity needs of more than 2,796 homes – almost 10 per cent of the homes in the borough.The spokesman added: “It would constitute a significant commitment by the council towards the UK target of 15 per cent of the electricity supply from renewable energy by 2015.”

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