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February 16th, 2012 The valley between Blackrod and Horwich looks set to become an endless valley of wind turbines and power plants
The latest development is that a wind farm is proposed on Red Moss – a Site of Special Scientific Interest – of European significance. It is understood the turbines will be operated by Coriolis Energy Ltd. It is understood the number of proposed turbines has been reduced but the Bolton News reports a planning application for five or six turbines is likelym, we believe they will be in the size range of 66m to 100m to blade tip – although up to 160m is possible
This is in addition to turbines at Chadwick Farm (3x66m to tip) and Douglas Valley Golf Course (45m to tip). Both locations are within a few hundred meters of residential properties. A biomass plant has already been approved (and building works started) at Markland Farm / Douglas Valley Golf Course.
The turbine at douglas Valley may affect the television recpetion of over 8000 people . It is not know n how many Chadwick farm will affect
Bolton Council does not appear to have a developed wind turbine strategy.
Local Government Improvement and Development -designated areas and approximate setbacks states that “Designated nature conservation areas should be avoided, and a setback distance from the boundary of the designated area may be recommended by ecologists ”
It also states A setback distance of at least 600 – 800 metres from residential properties for large wind turbines. This may be reduced for smaller projects.
Ofcom avises a minimum seperation distance of at least 500m to residential properties to a turbine.
Wherever a wind policy has been considerd – in depth – it appears highly likely that none of these developments would proceed.
http://www.idea.gov.uk
http://www.cherwell.gov.uk/media/pdf/b/7/Wind_Turbine_Guidance.pdf
http://www.torridge.gov.uk
http://cmis.milton-keynes.gov.uk/CmisWebPublic/Binary.ashx?Document=34232
The lack of a clear policy causes significant concern – particularly when the Council itself benefits from the lack of policy.
It is often said the green spaces around Bolton are what attracts new residents. This looks set to change.
February 16th, 2012 The applicants agent has suggested that a montage from a resident is innacurate. They allege the photomontage as shows the turbine to be in the wrong place, is massively closer than it will be and is set at a much too high level. It gives a totally false impression of the turbine and its closeness and impact.
The imposed turbine is an actual WES 30 turbine (on a 30m mast)- which fixes the scale given two fixed points. The photographs are taken with a 50mm equivelent lens on a 35mm camera – recognised as giving an accurate eye persepctive rather than a wide angle or zoom lens. The photograph was taken from their front door. Nobody would want to think anyone is being mislead so …..
(Click on the picture to enlarge) The montage
1 is update below in accordance with the agents suggested position and height.
2 the original residents submission and
3 the agents latest submission (taken from near the bottom of Chorley Road)
4 the agents original submission
Interestingly the agent is now using maps. Previously it had been indicated yellow balloons blowing in the wind were more accurate than OS maps.
1 
2 
3 
4 
Appologies if we gave anyone a false impression of the impact.
It should be noted that the turbine may be less visible at night – providing there is no moon and the golf course is not using its flood lights. We do not know
February 8th, 2012 The photo above (click photo to enlarge) shows the proposed Douglas Valley Turbine, from Chorley Road. (Taken with a 38mm lens, showing more accurately the perceived impact rather than using wide angle lens)
None of the turbines below have yet been built -and they are getting bigger. For reference a typical two story house, including the roof is about 7m.
BHEAG’s position is given in italics.
BHEAG use the guidlines expressed in these documents Guidlines
Planning Guidance on the Residential Amenity Impacts of Wind Turbine Development
Local Government Improvement and Development
Current approved
- Horwich Parkway 1 x 25m (twin blade ) (no objection)
Current Applications
- Matchmoor Stables, Matchmoor Lane, Horwich 1 x 34 m to tip no objection
- Douglas Valley golf Course 2 1 x 45m to tip (twin blade) objections, proximity to residential property, proximity to hedgerow and pond, proximity to public footpath, proximity to biomass plant, adverse impact on visual amenity
- Land North (or East) of Chadwick’s Farm, Lostock Lane 3 x 66m to tip (triple blade) (No position /tbd )
Pre-consultation
Several other turbines / wind farms have been rumoured around Blackrod
February 5th, 2012 Daily Post
Anglesey council has launched a consultation in a bid to provide new guidance on the siting of turbines, and said they would delay any planning decision until that is completed.
Campaigners marched on the council offices in Llangefni last Thursday, reflecting the growing anger over the proliferation of “monster” turbines across the island countryside. Protesters also voiced concerns over biomass and bio gas proposals on the island. (One biomass plant is expected to burn the equivelent of the entire UK wood production – each year) The Council consider any turbine with a production capacity greater than 100 KW to be large
The number of applications for turbines – some 100 metres tall – has rocketed in recent months with fears the entire countryside will be covered in wind mills unless action is taken.
Commissioner Mr Aldridge said: “Wind turbines are important in the drive for low cost energy, but not at any price
A public consultation on the draft supplementary planning guidance document on Onshore Wind Energy ends on February 10. See anglesey. gov.uk/consultations to respond.
The current position in Wales regarding residential property The position was set out in a National Assembly for Wales PQ, which was answered by the Environment Sustainability and Housing Minister on 21 January 2008:
Kirsty Williams (Brecon and Radnorshire): Will the Minister make a statement on increasing the minimum distances between wind turbines and properties? (WAQ50841)
Jane Davidson: Guidance on proximity of wind turbines to residential dwellings is set out in Technical Advice Note (TAN) 8: Planning for Renewable Energy. This states that ’500m is currently considered a typical separation distance between a wind turbine and residential property to avoid unacceptable noise impacts.
The guidance on PP22 – the English equivelant suggests 350m with Proximity to dwellings – with “Is the site constrained by a population centre, or scattered dwellings” being a key consideration.
The material question is whether the proposal would have a detrimental effect on the locality generally, and on amenities that ought, in the public interest, to be protected.
Lets hope Bolton Council heed the experience of others – further down the turbine experience
“The Coalition Government remains committed to an ambitious programme of constructing wind farms, hoping to boost this number to up to 10,000 turbines onshore and 4,300 offshore by 2020. ”
“Already there are more than 3,500 turbines in Britain providing 6GW of electricity, enough to power 3.4 million homes for a year”
“As well as the 3,358 turbines already built around Britain, there are more than 3,000 consented and more than 2,000 in planning. ”
Daily Telegraph
ALthough over 100 MPs have wriiten to the Prime Minister – in an attempt to stop the Wind Turbine Madness
The Letter
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/politics/9061997/101-Tories-revolt-over-wind-farms.html
February 2nd, 2012 The decision was deferred by planning committee due to the late information.
The late report will be linked here as soon as it is available.
February 1st, 2012 It would appear that the application has now been ammended to only one turbine – due to the presence of a gas line.
It is our understanding that the only turbine now being applied for is turbine 1, closest to the golf house. This turbine also appears to have moved again – although this is not clear. UPDATE : turbine 1 has not moved.
There are currently several objections or requests for deferment :
NERL – air traffic control
MOD –
Joint Radio Company
Ofcom also needs to be consulted
The site also requires a bat survey to be completed prior to any permission being granted.
Residents have asked for a deferral to ensure an appropriate noise assesment can be completed
It is further a matter of law and good practice that the base line should include any developments for which permission has already been granted – ie the biomass plant. It would therefore be incorrect to assume that the turbine will offset carbon usage on the site.
Whilst it seems likely the application will be deferred it is still for the planning committee to decide
January 18th, 2012 The photographs below show the first photographic submission by the applicant, the latest submission by the applcant (both using a wide angle lens) and our interpretation – the latter using a 50mm lens and more correctly exposed, which is good practice when depicting visual impact. All are taken from approximately the same location. An actual WES turbine, in actual colours is shown in our interpretation) (It should be noted that we believe our interpretation still underestimates the impact, as the baloon, used to centre the turbine was not flying at a vertical height of 30m) Click on the images to see a larger view
At the same time the turbines have been getting quieter with the latest noise assement appears to claim that at 200m a turbine will be 37 dB, rather than the 45dB claimed on the manufacturers website.
To make matters worse, the site is approved for a biomass plant.Having stated “we have had no other option but to shelve this project for the time being”, around the 17 October 2011, within a month work had commenced on the plant.
It is good that people from outside the area are in favour of wind turbines, as are we. It is unlikely that they are aware of the impact of these specific turbines as it has been almost impossible to understand from the data which has been submitted.
Wind turbines are an excellent form of renewable energy. Some people do not like them spoiling the views in the countryside when out for a walk. This is considerably different from having one invading the privacy of your own home, either visually or with noise – particularly relevant to the proposed turbines at Douglas Valley given the topography of the land and the number of people directly affected.
There will be many more applications for turbines in the local area – it is only to be hoped that these will provide accurate and detailed informtion from the outset and that they will not effect so many residents on a personal basis – so that the whole community can embrace this technology.
December 31st, 2011 The latest information on the Douglas Valley Golf Course Turbines, can be found
HERE
December 20th, 2011 Happy Christams and Best Wishes for 2012
“Well there was no condition specifying it could not be illumintated !!!”
December 9th, 2011 Having stated “ we have had no other option but to shelve this project for the time being, around the 17 October 2011, http://www.planning.bolton.gov.uk/Documents/110598_23.pdf
Within a month the development has commenced – although the information was not available until after the due decision date for the turbines, in which the above statement was made,
http://www.planning.bolton.gov.uk/Documents/116407_15.pdf
December 8th, 2011 The planning committee are due to visit the site, this morning at 11.20 am
The planning committee is scheduled for 2pm at the Town Hall – the public are invited to attend – however we understand that the planning officer will now be recommending deferment – and it is unclear whether the application will be considered.
“Dear All,
As you may or may not be aware a revised noise assessment was submitted by the applicant late yesterday, as well as various submissions from residents and BHEAG. This amounts to a lot of information which needs to be digested and considered by officers before being presented to the Planning Committee. It is key that the information presented is correct and members make their decision based on this information.
The timescales to consider the amount of information are too tight and therefore officers will recommend the Planning Committee defer the application at this afternoon’s meeting to enable full consideration of the information.
The final decision whether to defer the application will lie with the planning committee, so this email is a precursor to this afternoon’s meeting, but I trust it forewarns you of what may happen.
Please note the site visits planned to the golf club and 38 Nightingale Road will still take place this morning. The planning committee are due to arrive at the golf club at 11.20am.
I appreciate this email will not reach every resident directly, but I would appreciate your co-operation in passing the message onto as many people as possible.
Regards
Andrew”
The meeting was deferred with an incredible amount of informtation included in the late list.suppl
December 6th, 2011 A great number of concerns remain unanswered about the proposed devlopment.
A brief summary, of some of the concerns can be found Douglas Valley Golf Course BHEAG x
December 1st, 2011 The officer is recommending approval.
Apparently ignoring the deficiencies in the noise report regarding the timing of data - which the officer tacitly agrees has ignored guidance, but will be revisted in the next week and the fact that the noise data appears at best unrealistic – in that the noise generated by the turbine appears to be 75% less than the manufacturer states !!
The precise impact on the public footpath is unclear – other than to say it should be diverted.
The proposed conditions seem to ignore guidance regarding end of life and the colour of the turbines.
Almost bizarrely the officer seems to acknowledge that there is a risk of golf balls hitting the blades – either accidently or on purpose – the consequences of which should be considered after the event !!
Pages from Pages from report -22
Pages from Pages from report-22-27
November 25th, 2011 Residents have been confused at how the applicant for the turbines on Douglas Valley golf course, can refer to the turbines as small. How the turbines were originally appeared to be in the wrong scale on the photo montages.
Now residents are bemused with the updated noise statement. Whilst updating the noise statement, the noise source has been reduced from c 104 dB to 97.1 dB. (as of 07/12/2011 the noise source has decreased further to 92dB)
No explanation is given for this reduction of 75% Even the manufacturers own website seems to suggest the figure is wrong.
No explanation is given why one of the turbines (the one closest to Nightingale Road) is missing or why the combined effect, which we estimate would add over 3dB is missing.
The assesment also appears to avoid the noise generated if it gets windy, limiting it to 8m/s (about 2/3 of its top speed)
For the “alternative” analysis of the noise generation see http://www.planning.bolton.gov.uk/Documents/111580_65.pdf
Meanwhile Prince Phillip slams turbines as a “Fairytale”
The UK currently has a total of 3,421 turbines, with 2,941 onshore and there are proposals in place by the Government to build a further 4,500
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