Both sides air wind farm views

AIRING VIEWS: People gather on Swanage seafront to demonstrate both against and in favour of the Navitus Bay wind farm AIRING VIEWS: People gather on Swanage seafront to demonstrate both against and in favour of the Navitus Bay wind farm

RESIDENTS in Highcliffe have called on both sides of the controversial wind farm debate to air their views at a meeting in March.

Members of the Highcliffe Community Association will be hosting an event on Friday March 8 from 2.30pm with the wind farm developer Navitus Bay Development Ltd and opposition group Challenge Navitus.

Both parties will be given 30 minutes to explain their arguments at the public meeting.

The association, which has more than 1,700 members, are inviting local residents to come along and question the two groups about the pros and cons of the proposed development off the Dorset coast.

One hour will be set aside for as many questions and answers as possible with the aim of concluding the meeting by 4.30pm.

Dorset county councillor Alan Griffiths, who will be chairing the meeting, said: “This may be the first time that local people will see the two views clearly set out in one meeting where residents can hear both sides explain their views in detail.

“People will be able to ask either side any questions that they wish to get a clear view of the good or bad effects that the wind farm will have on our community.

“Highcliffe Community Association hopes that as many people as possible will come to hear at first hand the facts behind what is the largest proposed development in our area and what impact it may have on our lives. “ Navitus Bay Development Ltd has been holding consultation roadshows around Dorset and Hampshire with new pictures and 3D model of what the wind farm will look like from different points around the coast.

But Challenge Navitus have disputed the validity of the 3D model, saying the images are misleading.

The meeting will take place in the Methodist Church Hall on Lymington Road.

Comments(9)

Hessenford says...
6:02pm Sat 2 Mar 13

Boring, Boring, Boring.

portia6 says...
7:27pm Sat 2 Mar 13

Its an ill wind that blows no-one any
good just ask windy miller!

Stop Press says...
2:02am Sun 3 Mar 13

Why spoil one of the most beautiful views in England for the sake of making a heavily subsidised project make billions of £'s for a foreign company? Each of the 218 Turbines is going to be more than 10 times taller than the Imax Cinema at Bournemouth Pier Approach. Say NO to Navitus.

alanh7 says...
7:53am Sun 3 Mar 13

This may be the one and only real chance for the public to ask questions in an open forum.

Some things I would like to know:

Do the wind company realise that their wind farm would increase CO2 emissions compared to getting power from gas?

If heavy storms make repairs costly or even impossible, what happens then? (80% of wind turbines in the North Sea have suffered expensive grout failure causing foundation instability it is reported).

Where is the comprehensive collision modelling report that has been done to assess the sailing danger? Why is it not available?

Does the wind company accept that their recent public consultation is invalid because visual impact has been deliberately understated, so misleading the public?

Would the wind company get paid for electricity by the taxpayer even when it does not produce any electricity as happens for existing wind farms?

Why is the bird survey information still kept secret from the public?

Why is there no information made available to show the expected big impact on tourism?

Local MPs strongly oppose the scheme including Burns, Ellwood, Drax, Chope, Syms - are they misguided or correct?

My hope is that these sort of questions can be put and answered - but I expect there will be long, slow, unrevealing answers that prevent adequate questions being submitted.

Mrspud28 says...
10:26am Sun 3 Mar 13

Wind turbines! I'm a big fan

MikeGB says...
10:24pm Sun 3 Mar 13

I hate wind turbines but the public must realise that the government has to be seen to be doing something even if it is completely wrong, expensive and ineffective. That's what governments do best, whatever party happens to be in power.

alanh7 says...
7:56am Mon 4 Mar 13

Mike - is that not a counsel of despair?

Unless you have a dysfunctional government, the idea in a democracry should be much better than that.

Properly guided by a professional civil service, a government should take rational actions which are of benefit. As it is, hardly any MPs understand what is going on and have been taken in by the received wisdom of the green lobby.

In the end, the expensive failure of wind farms will become another nail in the coffin of public respect for the competence of government.

a.g.o.g. says...
9:01am Mon 4 Mar 13

alanh7 wrote:
This may be the one and only real chance for the public to ask questions in an open forum. Some things I would like to know: Do the wind company realise that their wind farm would increase CO2 emissions compared to getting power from gas? If heavy storms make repairs costly or even impossible, what happens then? (80% of wind turbines in the North Sea have suffered expensive grout failure causing foundation instability it is reported). Where is the comprehensive collision modelling report that has been done to assess the sailing danger? Why is it not available? Does the wind company accept that their recent public consultation is invalid because visual impact has been deliberately understated, so misleading the public? Would the wind company get paid for electricity by the taxpayer even when it does not produce any electricity as happens for existing wind farms? Why is the bird survey information still kept secret from the public? Why is there no information made available to show the expected big impact on tourism? Local MPs strongly oppose the scheme including Burns, Ellwood, Drax, Chope, Syms - are they misguided or correct? My hope is that these sort of questions can be put and answered - but I expect there will be long, slow, unrevealing answers that prevent adequate questions being submitted.
Anwswers Required.

mooninpisces says...
10:21am Mon 4 Mar 13

"Local MPs strongly oppose the scheme .. are they misguided or correct?" (alanh7, 7.53am Sunday).

'hardly any MPs understand what is going on" (alanh7, 7.56am Monday).

Seems like you've answered Sunday's question.

click2find

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