The Whissendine Windfarm Action Group is a group of concerned residents who gather information and monitor what is happening in regards to windfarms.

SL382976 Pat Lake

Photo courtesy Pat Lake

The Whissendine Windfarm Action Group (WWAG) is a group of concerned residents who gather information and monitor what is happening in regards to windfarms. They presented to the villaged at a a meeting held in the village school on the 30th May 2012 jointly organised by the Whissendine Parish Council to provide information to help the village understand the Rutland County Council ‘Draft Wind Turbine Developments, Supplementary Planning Document’. The meeting was attended by Cllr King and Mr Troy of RCC Planning Dept who gave the background to the document and answered participants’ questions. Bernard Pryor from the WWAG gave a presentation on windfarms and their lack of efficacy. Many issues were subsequently raised by participants. This meeting helped people provide input of value in the development of the planning document.

The final version of the RCC Document has now been published. It is interesting to note that it has incorporated many of the raised issues of concern, e.g. on minimum distance between individual turbines – thus for wind turbines below 184 ft in height there has to be a minimum distance of one mile between each tower; in addition the suitability of the ‘Whissendine Plateau’ for groups of large turbines (100m+) has been reduced from ‘Moderate’ to ‘Low’. Further, strict criteria have been introduced for removal of turbines at the end of their useful lives.

“Bearing in mind the governmental restraints on the RCC, we believe the new planning document offers a good compromise taking account of perceived national needs and local County views.”

The WWAG has recently assisted other groups concerned with these issues. In addition, they have collected a huge background knowledge on climate criteria and the corresponding essential need to ‘keep the lights on’. They are more than willing to share their collective knowledge with any group that needs help or guidance.

Contact

Dr Bruce Lawrie
Whissendine 072