A CAMPAIGN group against siting a wind farm in the Den Brook Valley near North Tawton claims the developers have massively understated the number of properties which may be adversely affected by the turbines. New supplementary environmental information submitted by Renewable Energy Systems (RES) for a public inquiry starting on November 22 concludes that only 80 or 90 homes are likely to suffer significant visual intrusion. But the Den Brook Valley Action Group says the real figure is nearer 1,000. Campaigners have, however, been criticised for scaremongering by RES who will appeal against West Devon Borough Council?s refusal of planning permission for the wind farm at the forthcoming inquiry in Okehampton. Chairman of the group Maureen Thomson said the ?Visual Amenity? zone was drawn as a circle from the centre of the one kilometre long site and not from the actual position of any of the 120m high turbines. ?This means that houses within 3km of the turbines but more than 3km from this so-called centre of the site are excluded from RES? figures,? she said. ?We calculate that the 3km zone correctly drawn from the actual turbines would include the whole of North Tawton, all properties in Bow to the west of Johnsland, the Burston area of Zeal Monachorum and much of Spreyton. ?RES has got this completely and hopelessly wrong. The actual true number of properties in this critical zone is nearly 1,000.? Mrs Thomson also said it was ?nonsense? that the RES only considered a house as being seriously affected if the front faced the turbines, even if all the main rooms, bedrooms and garden looked out onto them. Project manager for RES Rachel Ruffle said a qualified independent landscape architect had done an assessment of the potential effects of the wind farm on residential properties closest to the proposed Den Brook site. She said: ?This followed on from a review that that there would be no significant effects on the overall views from villages within the study area, including Zeal Monachorum, Spreyton, Bow, Nymet Tracey and North Tawton ? for example, most houses in North Tawton will not be able to see the wind farm.? She added the 3km study area for assessing effects of residential properties was selected on the basis of professional experience and as a result of site survey and comparison of visualisations prepared for residential properties towards and just beyond this distance from the wind farm. Miss Ruffle added: ?This is another example of scaremongering ? the last one was the claim the TV reception in 5,000 houses would be affected. This is nonsense.?
