Backlash over wind turbine plan (From The Argus)

Backlash over wind turbine plan

11:22am Monday 30th July 2007 in

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Plans for a 65ft wind turbine next to a seafront lawn and six smaller devices on a council building have been heavily criticised by neighbours.

Residents are complaining the wind turbines belong on wind farms not in historical Grand Avenue and Kings House, Hove.

But Brighton and Hove City Council wants to cut its 34,000 tonnes of CO2 emitted a year by 6,836 tonnes, reducing the annual £4 million energy bill.

It is a move which could be copied by councils across Sussex keen to improve their green credentials and planning officials are watching the application closely.

Earlier this month Lewes District Council's planning committee approved a 70m turbine to supply energy to Glyndebourne Opera House. The proposal has so divided the community that it must now be examined by the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, Hazel Blears, before any work can start.

Ms Blears, who is expected to make a decision within the next few weeks, has the power to order a public inquiry.

Brighton and Hove council predicts its own turbines would provide enough energy for the building's night-time energy needs and ten per cent of its daytime requirement.

The small turbines will be situated on the Eighties extension of the Grade II-listed building and a large device on the lawns outside the council's Hove headquarters made from two inter-locking spirals forming a vertical cylinder to minimise the visual impact.

While launching the scheme Simon Burgess, the former council leader, said that he "found it amazing that people object to turbines because of the way they look" - but dozens of complaints have been received by the council.

Jan Young, a councillor for Central Hove, said she had received around 30 letters protesting against the scheme, raising concerns about noise and spoilt views.

She said: "Somebody applied to put a satellite dish in Grand Avenue and it was refused because it wasn't in keeping, so if a satellite dish is not in keeping a wind turbine certainly isn't.

"In my mind it is a token gesture to look green but doesn't offer value for money.

"The output will be so small and I am not aware of any other wind turbines in residential areas.

"I will be fighting this all the way."

Conservationist Valerie Paynter said: "Is this where we want the council to take Hove?

"They will sell it as green and sustainable but it is really just a fashion statement I think.

"This council really likes bigging up the vulgar, loud and brutalist imagery.

"It's the sort of thing the lottery winner with the neckful of chains and burnt out cars in his garden might do, thinking it was dead cool."

The council's has received a £200,000 grant from The Carbon Trust for the scheme and £250,000 of the council's own money will be added.

A detailed energy audit of all council buildings, including schools and offices, to find out how they can be made more energy efficient is being carried out.

Plans for citywide carbon reductions of 3.5 per cent a year were laid out in the cityís sustainable community strategy in 2006.

An application for the turbines has been submitted by the city council to is own planning department and should be discussed by a committee of councillors later this month.

What do you think of the plan? Leave your comments below.