We are objecting strongly about this application as we believe the site is wrong for the development and the detrimental impacts far outweigh any benefits. Here are our reasons:

 

           Click on the blue number of each objection to read more detail

1.     It is too close to houses, will be noisy and may endanger health.

2.     It is too close to footpaths and bridleways.

3.     It is too close to Heritage sites.

4.     It will impact on protected wildlife.

5.     It will endanger archaeological remains.

6.     The visual impact will be huge.

7.     There are more suitable sites for it to be built.

8.     There will be disruption to services within nearby houses.

9.     The development is only likely to be 27% efficient, based on data drawn from other established Wind Farms. The quoted 10MW output is actually likely to be no more than 2.7MW.

10.  The development will only be economically viable with huge tax-payer funded grants from the government. A typical subsidy is over 100% of electricity based revenue.

 

 

It’s not just us who are objecting! Here’s what others are saying:

 

“Carsington Pastures is a rich and varied historic landscape, containing many burial and upstanding remains. Two areas have been identified as being of national importance and have been recommended for scheduling”

English Heritage

 

“The policy adopted by one of the founding bodies of Natural England sets out the required distance of turbines from National Trails.
In this instance, 408m would be the recommended separation” (proposed separation is 170m)

Natural England                         

 

“Natural England are concerned that the data relating to bat surveys undertaken at this site are inadequate given the nature of the proposal and the potential for bats using the area”

Natural England           

 

“Moving shadows cast across Manystones Lane and the High Peak Trail will spook horses. Their natural response is to turn and flee.
The scheme would make it dangerous for horse
riders to use the High Peak Trail.

British Horse Society                  

 

We object due to the potential hazard from having turbines too close to a National Trail and a road. British Horse Society guidelines recommend a separation of 4 times the height of the turbines from trails. These are not even 2 times the height away

Amber Valley Riders

 

“The turbines are too close to public rights of way and will pose a safety threat if damaged, will have an adverse impact on the landscape and an adverse impact on local birdlife”

Chesterfield and North Derbyshire Ramblers Association

             

 

“The development would have a detrimental effect on the unspoiled tranquillity of the reservoir, whether enjoyed by those on boars or on the footpaths around the reservoir and in its vicinity”

The Ramblers Association

 

“Acceptance of the proposal would lead to unacceptable harm to the National Park Landscape”

Peak District National Park Authority

 

The Local Planning Authority advised the applicant in July2007 that they were disappointed with the lack of public consultation that had taken place. There has still been no such consultation 10 months later”

Representative of ‘Protect Carsington and Hopton’ residents’ action group

 

The development has a potentially negative impact on the important bird
populations that over winter at Carsington Reservoir”

Derbyshire Ornithological Society   

 

“There is still an untapped wealth of history at Carsington Pastures waiting to be discovered. Any industrial hole boring associated with these wind turbine installations may destroy our heritage and scientific interest”

Pegasus Caving Club, who worked with Channel 4s Time Team to uncover finds at Carsington Pastures

 

“The significance of likely further archaeological remains is underplayed in the applicants environmental statement. The lead mines are likely to be of national importance”

Professor Andrew Chamberlain, University of Sheffield    

 

“The Carsington and Hopton Parish Council and the vast majority of parishioners support the concept of wind energy. We are, however, unable to support the proposed development due to the insensitive and inappropriate nature of the exact site selected”

Carsington and Hopton Parish Council

 

“The site was not favoured in an early scoping report on potential sites because if its proximity to the National Park border. At least 6 other sites were quoted as being more acceptable”

Anon, Letter of Objection     

 

“The selection criteria for this site appears to have been driven by a willing landowner and economic connection to the National Grid rather than a detailed analysis of the site in comparison to others”

Anon. Letter of Objection

 

“The proposed wind turbines, by reason of their scale, will be a visually intrusive and pervasive addition to the countryside in a complex and sensitive landscape incapable of absorbing them….. Significant harm will result to the character and appearance of the landscape.”

“The siting of the turbines will dominate the experience of users of the High Peak Trail and the surrounding footpath routes in a way that would prove a deterrent to use by horse riders, cyclists and walkers”

“The turbines will have an overbearing and harmful impact upon settings of both Carsington and Hopton and Brassington Conservation Areas.”

“The applicants have failed to consider alternative sites”

Derbyshire Dales District Council, Planning Authority

 

 

Our objections in more detail:

1.

     It is too close to houses, will be too noisy and may endanger health. It will be 550 metres from the nearest farm and 600 metres from the nearest house in Carsington. This is much closer than the UK Noise Association and Scottish Executive recommendations for siting (1600m and 2000m respectively). The energy company work has claimed that noise levels will be 'at the margins of acceptable levels'. However, 2dB has been taken off due to claimed topographical effects, the accuracy of which an independent expert contests. It is quite possible therefore that eventual noise levels will be higher than government allowable limits. Research has also been done into health implications of living close to Wind Farms, watch the video below, first hand reports from ordinary residents living near a new windfarm.
Click here and here for examples. Research has also been conducted into Wind Farm syndrome.

 

2.

     It is too close to footpaths and bridleways. Footpaths will pass the site within 50m and it will be just a few hundred metres from the High Peak Trail, a popular bridleway. Wind Turbines are widely recognised to 'spook' horses, potentially leading to rider injury. Turbines also don’t have a great safety record, have a look at the Safety Pictures ( link in the right hand column) and at the frightening video below.

 

3.

     It is too close to Heritage sites. A scheduled ancient monument (Carsington Pasture Bowl Barrow) is 90m away, a Romano-British field system recommended for designation as a scheduled monument lies immediately south, two further scheduled monuments lie 650m and 880m from the site. A Grade II listed building, Carsington Windmill, lies 100m to the east

 

4.

     It will impact on protected wildlife. Bees Nest and Green Clay Pits SSSIs is close-by to the west, a registered 'Special Site of Scientific Interest' and Carsington Reservoir nature reserve is a short distance to the south. Blade tips can travel at 200mph, easily killing or displacing small creatures and even the construction of a development like this is also extremely destructive to wildlife habitat. The following species, many protected have been commonly seen in the site area:

·       Bats

·       Great crested newts

·       Curlew

·       Golden plover

·       Hobby

·       Lapwing

·       Red Kite

·       Short eared owl

·       Starling

·       Whooper swan

·       Mountain pansy

 

 

5.

     It will endanger archaeological remains.

We are concerned that both undiscovered and discovered archaeological finds and sites of importance will be damaged by this development. Proposed ground works include piling and ‘grouting’ (filling voids with concrete or other material) and it has been proved that the site is littered with Bronze Age, Roman and Mediaeval remains. Carsington Pastures is an area that was mined extensively from Roman times due to a dense network of mineral veins and is rich in archaeological finds of the Romano-British period. Nearby settlements of this date have been excavated at Rainster Rocks, 1km WNW of Brassington and at two sites alongside the former Scow Brook in an area which is now inundated by Carsington Reservoir.  The line of the Roman Road from Buxton to Derby is thought to have run about 300m to the east of Carsington Pasture Cave which is at SK2415 5368 and shards of Romano-British pottery have been found near the limestone outcrop 200m north of the cave. Roman lead pigs have also been found near Carsington, and the area is believed to have been an important centre of lead production in Roman times. In addition, we also know that a Romano-British field system of historical interest borders the south of the application area.

Channel 4s Time Team excavated Carsington caves in 2003.

         
Here is their story:

Following the discovery of ancient human and animal archaeological remains in Carsington Pasture Cave in 1998 by the Pegasus Caving Club of Nottingham, archaeologists from Sheffield University became involved to support an excavation. Tony Robinson’s Time Team was involved in this activity and the investigations were broadcast on Channel 4 in January 2003. The cave yielded both Neolithic and Roman inhumations and had obviously been an important place in which to inter the dead for thousands of years. Interestingly, of the over 20 individuals discovered across the two areas of digging (in the cave and excavations of a local Bronze Age Barrow), the majority of the remains belonged to children, a fact considered to be highly unusual. Malcolm Scothon of the Pegasus Caving Club quoted “We need to make sure the site is properly protected”. In parallel, Time Team members were excavating a burial mound. Evidence of child burial was found in the top and then to one side a fantastic Bronze Age burial urn was discovered containing the crushed bone of one or more individuals.

         

 

Listen to Mick Aston speaking about the burial chamber finds.

Listen to Phil Harding speaking about the inverted burial urn.

Read more about the Time Team Excavations

Professor Andrew Chamberlain
Carsington Pasture Cave, a prehistoric burial site 1999

Professor Andrew Chamberlain
Radiocarbon Dates from Carsington Pasture Cave 2001

 

   

 

 

6.

     The visual impact will be huge. Each of the 4 turbines will be 102m high - bigger than Big Ben! They will be seen across a vast expanse of the Derbyshire Dales and the Peak National Park, impacting on views that have been protected for a reason. For a picture of areas from which four turbines can be viewed see the blue areas – click here (pdf file)

 

7.

     There are more suitable sites for it to be built. WCE have not considered other sites, despite the council completing a piece of work several years ago with the British Wind Energy Association, recommending many other locations in the region. One of the arguments the energy company are making in favour of this particular site is that regional targets need to be met for renewable energy. However, the East Midlands Regional Assembly disagrees that targets should be cascaded to 'sub-region' level without a study into the capacity of each region to absorb a development like this.  They have only just commissioned this study to be started

 

8.

     27 houses may experience TV interference with transmissions from Lichfield, Bolehill, Matlock and Sutton Coldfield transmitters according to the BBC’s online ‘wind farm assessment tool’. A joint report (PDF format) by the BBC and Ofcom confirms that "Wind turbines affect reception up to a maximum distance of 5 km", "it is often impossible to avoid such problems completely" and that "both analogue and digital terrestrial reception can be affected." There may also be effects on radio and mobile phones.

 

9.

     Wind Turbines are a relatively inefficient means of generating electricity. Turbines only operate when the wind is between around 10 and 56 mph and this means that total electricity produced is only about 25-27% of their potential. West Coast Energy claim that 10MW of energy will be generated from this development of four 2.5MW turbines. In reality, the output will probably only be around 2.7MW

 

10.

  The main incentive for developers such as WCE is the huge subsidies available. According to new industry figures quoted in the Sunday Times [see 27 Jan 2008 Sunday Times article], eight 2MW turbines would generate around:

• £1.6m a year revenue from electricity and
• £2.4m a year in taxpayer subsidies for the developer.

In other words, taxpayers would be paying for 60% of the energy company’s revenue through current Labour government subsidies!! The British Wind Energy were recently quoted saying: “The Conservative Party’s proposals in its new Environmental Report would end all support for on-shore wind and cripple the UK wind industry overnight”. In other words, the Conservative party do not believe that wind energy is a feasible, sustainable source of renewable power for the future.

 

But there is a great deal of money to be made. With a proposed operating life of 25 years the initial cost of around £2m per turbine would be recouped in 4 years leaving many years of healthy profit. As Peter Atherton, head utilities analyst at Citi Investment Research, told the FT: "It's a bonanza. Anyone who can get their nose in the trough is trying to." [Financial Times - 4 Feb 2008] Subsidy policy is coming under increasing criticism but while they remain, companies such as West Coast Energy Ltd have an incentive to overstate the benefits and underrate the drawbacks of building new wind farms in particular locations.

For a useful analysis listen to the BBC Radio 4 "Costing the Earth" programme -

Video comment
In this Video we hear the commentator reading a series of reports from close neighbours of a windfarm as they describe the unusual nature of the low frequency vibrations they hear, and the unacceptable sleep deprivation and health problems they have suffered as a result.




In Denmark a passer-by caught the moment in a storm, when the turbine brakes failed and disintegration rapidly followed

 

 

The following video was recorded by an angry neighbour in Monthreathmont, Scotland.
Just listen to the soundtrack!