Misterton Wind Farm |
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The purpose of this web page is to provide the officers, elected members, and residents of Harborough District, particularly the Ward of Misterton, with a range of information regarding wind farms. This will be done principally by links to other web pages and to documents available on the Internet. The stimulus for this effort has been the application made by Nuon Renewables to Harborough District Council for the erection eleven wind turbines between Walcote and Swinford, mostly just north of Swinford. The application number is 08/00506/FUL, and you should quote this in any communication with HDC about the application. The author of this site is the Ward Member, and his intention is to provide as wide a range of information as possible so that all concerned in the decision making, and all likely to be affected by the outcome of this, may have a fuller understanding of the possible benefits and a better awareness of the likely effect of this application, if it is successful. A link to a web page is signified by '[web]' and this will open in a new window. Where there is a link to a document, the file type will be shown, e.g. '[pdf]'. These may be read online (left click) or downloaded (right click and save).
In many ways this website is a compromise between providing enough for the serious researcher to begin to get to grips with the subject, and the realisation that not all will have an unlimited amount of time, so to present them with a hundred links might be counter-productive. Some sites should be studied carefully if there is time, and will give many links to further documents and sources of information. One can find, for instance, exactly how effective the nearest wind farm to Misterton (at Finedon) is. It had one month where its Load Factor percentage was 7.7% and one where it was 46%. Load Factor is a measure of how effective a wind farm was in a given period of time compared with its potential maximum effectivenes. Some winter months can vary greatly: February 2006 at Finedon had a Load Factor of 9.7%, while for February 2007 it was 20.2%. This data is available from the Renewable Energy Foundation, via a downloadable pdf. The image chosen, with permission, as the last link gives a helpful idea of the scale of large wind turbines against trees and hedges typical of our local landscape. The type planned (2.3 MW) is 125m high at its highest point, a height well over ten times that of a typical two-storey house. At the request of a local resident, here is a further page of links, to wind farm action groups. This site has been produced by Councillor John Everett, giving the opportunity for local residents to inform him of their views. Readers may contact the author via his email address, or his postal address, which are both given at Harborough District Council's website: www.harborough.gov.uk. All the views expressed on these pages are entirely his own, and all the costs associated with publishing a website have been met by him. The inclusion of a link to any website does not imply that the author of this site endorses the views displayed there. This site will be extended with relevant material from time to time, so no need to respond at a first reading. If you have completed your research and wish to record your views, please use this response form. Note: I am now (early May) receiving a steady flow of letters. Some are simply written equivalents of the response form linked to above. These I am carefully noting and saving. Others are detailed objections, giving material planning considerations. All these will be presented to the Council officers for their consideration. I regret the sheer voluome of both types makes individual written acknowledgment impossible. Please accept this general assurance in lieu. It is possibly now best to send all letters directly to Development Control at the Council Offices. As promised at the Have Your Say meeting in North Kilworth on September 16th, here to download (right click and save) are the Actions and Answers which I promised to publish here. JE. |