A CONTROVERSIAL plan to install a hydro-electricity turbine on the River Walkham in West Devon is set to come before Dartmoor National Park Authority's planning committee next month.

The developers, the renewable energy firm CGP, of Newton Abbot, propose 'to construct a hydro scheme using water from the River Walkham and utilising the existing leat'.

They say the planned 100 kilowatt turbine at Huckworthy Mill, Sampford Spiney will generate electricity for the National Grid, enough to power 50 homes.

The proposal is to re-open an old, disused leat to transport water from a weir downstream, to a hydro-electric turbine.

Tony Jackson, a CGP director, said that if the application was successful, the turbine could be up and running by the end of this year.

He told the Times: 'This hydro-electric scheme represents the least intrusive of the renewable energy forms and is very low-key. Using the power of water to turn into energy has been utilised for hundreds of years on Dartmoor.

'The turbine will be inaudible to local residents and once it is up and running you will hardly notice it is there.'

Mr Jackson said such schemes were a far better way to provide for increased energy demands than the alternatives — nuclear power or using finite fossil fuels. His company hopes to develop two further such 'clean green energy' schemes of similar size on two other Dartmoor sites.

The Environment Agency said it will not object provided a fish pass is installed to assist the passage of salmon and trout. A separate application by the developers for such a fish pass has been submitted by the developers.

Mr Jackson said: 'The EA have asked for a new fish pass because the existing one does not meet current standards and they have said that the new structure will improve fish migration.'

He added: 'The licence granted by the EA has very precise restrictions on the volume of water that may be used so that we can only take a proportion of the excess over the level specified to preserve the river wildlife.'

However, objections to the turbine and new fish pass have come from those who fear it will further damage the declining fish population in the area, have an adverse effect on local wildlife and the natural environment, and will destroy the remains of an ancient stone weir.

Objectors say the presence of a large concrete fish pass will be completely 'out of character'.

They claim this scheme would take almost ten times more water out of the river than the original mill and unlike grinding corn perhaps a few times a week, would run continuously, 24 hours a day, seven days a week.

Andrew Joynson, a former fishery owner, who lives on the opposite bank to the proposed development, said: 'The Walkham Valley is the single most important spawning tributary in the Tavy catchment and one of the few unspoilt wild river valleys left on the west side of Dartmoor. It is an exquisite, beautiful and peaceful area.

'This development could set a dangerous precedent for further such schemes on the Walkham and has the potential to damage fish stocks along the entire river.

'This scheme will reduce the water to a summer trickle for many months at a time for almost three-quarters of a mile of the Walkham, which will seriously affect the amenity of the river.'

The two applications will go before the DNPA planning committee on March 2.