Wormleighton
Warwickshire
The small historic village of Wormleighton is facing plans for 13 x 120 m high wind turbines. being put forward by the Spencer Trust (owners of the surrounding land) and EDF the French energy group. There are only 80 people living in this hamlet, with its 900 year old church, and they are faced with the twin whammies of the HS2 Rail link and plans for erecting large numbers of wind turbines.To see more photographs of the area, here are two links:
http://www.geograph.org.uk/browse.php?p=227950
http://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.214940418540401.59289.100000733334936
If you would like to object to the initial proposal for a wind measurement mast, go to this link, before June 6th if you can :
http://apps.stratford.gov.uk/eplanning/AppDetail.aspx?appkey=LIYZ5CPM00E00
All you have to do is press ctl and click - go the comments tab and write that you object If you want to see what has been written by others look at associated documents, and also look below at comments from a local objector:
"What we are facing in rural South Warwickshire and South Northants is getting to be ridiculous.
Of course, we first of all have the impending disaster of the £37 Billion (or whatever) project for a high speed railway line 75 meters wide when trains travelling at speeds of over 200 miles per hour will pass every 7 minutes. To use this planned travel facility in the future you must be a tourist arriving at Birmingham (London) airport or be someone living (presumably) in London or Birmingham . It's of seemingly little use/value to anyone living in-between. Mr Cameron has said that he is all for this of course as part of some moderniser image that he is pursuing and seemingly he doesn't seem too bothered about borrowing another £37 Billion (or whatever) either. Meanwhile the country is going broke and borrowing billions more every week.
Fortuitously, there are some fairly well-organized groups in place fighting the HS 2 in certain areas further North and South of us in more densely populated and better resourced areas than here in rural Northants, North Bucks and South Warwickshire.
However, secondly ,in addition to the HS Rail link , and much less well supported and resourced in terms of its objectors, is the need to combat what we are facing in the plans for wind turbines higher than a 34 storey building being proposed at Boddington, Priors Hardwick/ Wormleighton, Knightcote and now Shuckburgh. 13 of these monsters alone are projected to be erected at Wormleighton on land inherited by Earl Spencer and now we hear that the Shuckburgh Estate has joined the bandwagon. These impoverished (?) inheritors of large estates are presumably really being tempted by state-subsidized money via the French-owned EDF power supply company rather than by the stated desire to diminish their carbon footprints, which will if they study the figures properly actually show a net increase, when everything involved is taken into account.
This is part of a plan that seems to want to turn rural Britain into an industrial landscape. Theses energy companies chasing big money under their "Green" credentials flag would, one supposes, love to do this also in the Cotswolds (but that is probably off-limits for these Vandals being a more important tourism centre than South Warwickshire, although its inhabitants cannot afford to be complacent about this threat, which could shortly affect them too). If Britain follows Germany in abandoning nuclear power altogether,one can perhaps anticipate a time in the future when planes will have difficulty in finding a gap in between the windturbines in order to land at all.
It seem that the Planning Authorities need to be made aware that there are large numbers of objectors to the plans. The planners in Stratford -on-Avon won't allegedly listen unless they get at least 100 letters from objectors and of course there just aren't large numbers of people living in the affected area and those from further afield maybe don't know or don't care about it. Currently not enough people are voicing their objections. We are well short of the required nos. of registered objectors
Of course there is a due planning process and the initial phases involve firstly erecting wind measurement masts by EDF. From having watched the TV series about Windfarm Wars it seems that the figures can be interpreted and presented in many different ways to prove different things In truth the test masts are course just the thin edge of the wedge..
The residents of rural South Warwickshire would be grateful if you could send in as many objecting letters to Stratford -upon- Avon Council if you really wish to preserve the English countryside. (Oh for the skilful pen of the Stratford Bard- wonder what he would make of it!)
Please as a start object to the mast being erected using one or more of the following reasons:
Stoneton Wind Farm. Objection to Mast
· Unacceptable and severe detrimental impact to the integrity of the setting of the 'conservation' village of Wormleighton and its associated listed buildings.
· Unacceptable and severe detrimental visual impact on the listed moated farmstead of Stoneton Manor and its associated historic earthworks. This especially from the public highway and the adjacent public footpaths.
· The very close proximity of turbines to the much used public footpaths running both through the site and to the East of the site causing severe and unacceptable detrimental visual impact and a severe loss of a primary public amenity to the residents of Wormleighton.
· Detrimental visual impact from the public highways and viewing points in very close proximity. Especially to the thoroughfare leading to Priors Hardwick and The Boddingtons.
· A very detrimental visual impact to the much used public resource of the Oxford Canal and its tow path destroying the immediate views of Stoneton Ridge, the listed Stoneton Manor, and the hill top conservation village of Wormleighton.
· A detrimental impact on the setting of the very historic outcrop namely Burton Dassett Hills and its listed monuments comprising of an Iron Age Hill fort above Fenny Compton and 14th century beacon tower at the public country park.
· A detrimental visual impact on the longer views from the public resource of Burton Dassett Country Park enjoyed by over 60,000 paying visitors annually primarily for the valuable amenity of long uninterrupted pastoral views to the North.
· A very detrimental and unacceptable impact on the tourist business conducted from Hill Farm.
· Unacceptable ecological impact in a diverse and species rich environment, especially on the avian wild life in the habitat of the moated farmstead at Stoneton and its wider associated pools. Large resident populations of waterfowl also include vulnerable swans and geese. Movements of such species directly across the site to the Oxford Canal and other feeding grounds would lead to certain bird strike fatalities.
If you are really interested in helping to stop this industrial slaughter of the area we live in then please write now before it's too late. The period for objecting ends on 06.06.2011. so we are running out of time! "