Thanks to Wendy for covering this event in such a thorough and well balanced manner. If you’d like to contribute similar reports, please get in touch with us. Ed
This evening I attended the presentation by ThWART at Shorwell Village Hall – it was full, with about 60 seated and 50 people standing. Local media plus the BBC were there.
ThWART’s key message was that the wind turbines planned for Cheverton Down (for those who don’t know the site, it’s just on the other side of the ridge of the downs overlooking Shorwell, Limerstone and Brighstone in the south west of the island) are very big.
Size of blades
How big? 125 metres to the tip of the turbine blades to the base, which is a lot bigger than, for example, Wolverton Manor (they helpfully showed us a rather clever model of Wolverton Manor being dwarfed by a wind turbine, and I cursed myself for forgetting to bring a camera. The turbine won’t be standing right next to Wolverton Manor, of course, but it looked very impressive.)
The blades would apparently sweep an area of 1.5 acres which is 27% larger than a football pitch, and a turbine would look quite big compared to an A380 Airbus (personally I don’t know how big an A380 Airbus is so that didn’t mean much to me). They will appear higher than Rowridge TV mast (but quite a bit shorter than Chillerton mast; though cannily ThWART showed a mocked up view of how the turbines would look from a more westerly point on the downs which made them look nearly the same height). They will be visible for miles. The BBC have today been filming the site from various points on the Island and as far afield as Winchester.
ThWART argued that the turbines aren’t the most efficient way to produce energy and will only produce about 0.13% of the output of a coal-fired power station. They say they are not against renewable energy sources but are against wind turbines being sited in “inappropriate” places.
ThWART: Concerns over Island Plan
They are concerned that the council’s Island Plan, which shapes development on the Isle of Wight for a long time to come, is entering its next phase, that wind power could be part of it – in as many as eleven sites – and they don’t want the Island Plan to include a commitment to wind power.
The issue of siting wind turbines in AONBs (Areas of Outstanding Natural Beauty – a large chunk of the Isle of Wight falls into this category) came up. Cllr Vanessa Churchman said that she is on the steering committee for the local AONB and that they can’t give a formal response until the planning application is in, but she believes the committee is opposed.
Audience voice concerns
Concerns from the audience included possible light pollution if the turbines were lit at night; whether impacts on wildlife were being considered; who would profit from the turbines; what grounds were the turbines in Wellow rejected on, and why, following that rejection, turbines at Cheverton were now being considered.
Someone in the audience asked about the plans for turbines in Ventnor (the Ventnor Golf Club application). The ThWART representative said that he’d seen this mentioned on VentnorBlog and would give a thorough response once he’d seen the planning application. He thought the Ventnor “30 metre” turbines were actually 30 metre blades on a 50 metre tower. (Clarence has since clarified on the Ventnor Blog thread about the three Ventnor Golf Club turbines that each would comprise of a 30m hub with two 15m blades.)
ThWART want to increase their mailing list (they were asking everyone to “sign in” as they arrived without specifically saying it was for the mailing list), raise funds and get as many people as possible to object to the plans when they are submitted.
Further meetings
ThWART are giving their presentation again this Saturday (25th) at Brighstone Scout Hut (behind Wilberforce Hall, Main Road, Brighstone) at 10.30am.
Cornwall Light and Power (the company behind the Cheverton proposals) will be exhibiting at the Future Energy events, being organised by the Footprint Trust, this month. Members of the team will be on hand to answer any questions relating to the proposals for turbines at Cheverton Down. CLP are attending on the following dates:
Monday 27 October – West Wight Sports Centre, Freshwater
Wednesday 29 October – Ryde Theatre, Lind Street, Ryde
Friday 31 October – Riverside Centre, Newport
Useful links
Some useful links if you’re interested in this topic:
Friends of the Earth downloadable readers on renewables including wind
British Wind Energy Association (BWEA)
and a couple of interesting news articles about wind power from
The Observer, 19 October
