OPPONENTS of the scheme to site a wind farm at Yelland, near Okehampton, lined up to state their case at a special evening session of the public inquiry last week. The speakers, from Okehampton and the surrounding area, told the planning inspector they believed the area was totally unsuitable for such a scheme. The special session was held in the Charter Hall last Thursday to give people unable to attend proceedings during the day the chance to air their views. The appeal was lodged by Yelland Wind Farm Ltd following West Devon Borough Council?s refusal of planning permission last year to build three 81m high turbines on land close to the northern edge of Dartmoor. John Elson, who runs Okehampton Youth Hostel, said: ?Each year, I have 20,000 visitors to my business, mostly young people. For some of these young people, it is their first rural experience, some have never been to the countryside and never been in an area where the only noise you can hear at night is the birds. ?We don?t wish to see the wilderness feeling of the moor taken away and Dartmoor ring-fenced by turbines.? Former local councillor Coleen Herriman said though she and her husband had left the town four years ago, they had travelled from South Somerset to speak out against the proposal. She said 15 years ago Okehampton had been in need of economic regeneration and had successfully begun marketing itself as ?the town with moor?. ?Dartmoor needed to be looked after and nurtured. This proposal would not be in the best interests of the local community,? she said. Tony Dion, who moved to Okehampton with his wife from America last year, said they had carried out a lengthy search for a tranquil place in beautiful surroundings to live, before settling in Okehampton. ?I have lived near wind turbines before in Germany and the States, they are noisy and disruptive. The people living nearby don?t welcome them, because I can tell you house prices do go down and the economy suffers,? he said. Derek Godfrey-Brown who lives close to the proposed site, said like many others he was not opposed in principle to renewable energy: ?I have looked at renewable energy and for my part have installed a solar panel which has reduced my energy costs by £60 per month. This has been done in a sensitive way that does not intrude into the landscape but does in fact blend in and is barely discernible to the casual observer. ?The wind turbines will do completely the opposite, they will be visible for miles in any direction and destroy the attractiveness of our whole area.? Retired chartered engineer Nicholas Rowe, from Sheepwash, said it was clear current levels of CO2 emissions into the atmosphere had to be severely reduced. But he said promoters of turbine schemes emphasised the power output rather than CO2 reduction capabilities of their plants, because the latter contribution was minscule. ?Cash and time for alternatives is very limited and we really cannot afford to continue with the present emphasis on such an inefficient, environmentally unfriendly technique as wind turbines,? he told the meeting. Planning inspector Keith Smith said at the opening of the inquiry last week his two main remits would be local planning policy and the visual impact of turbines on the landscape. Around 30 people addressed comments to Mr Smith, touching on a broad range of issues, including impact on tourism, ecology and the environment. One person spoke in favour of the Yelland Farm proposal. Ken Crawford, who lives at South Tawton, said: ?We do need to look at non-fossil fuel sources for our energy. I think there is probably more future in biomass than any of the other projects but it is going to take a lot of time to get there. I think wind at the moment is our only option. ?As an engineer, I find wind turbines aesthetically beautiful but I know that is not everyone?s point of view.? Mr Crawford said he had heard many speakers say they did not want the turbines built near them, but no-one had come up with an alternative place where they thought turbines would be appropriate, and he believed doing nothing was no longer an option. Mr Smith said the evening had been useful: ?It is a good idea to hold an evening session, so people have their chance to have their say, as they have tonight.? He said it would take him around two weeks to complete his report once the inquiry was finished. It would then be considered by the Secretary of State who would make the final decision. l West Devon and Torridge MP Geoffrey Cox unequivocally declared his opposition to the development in a statement of evidence to the inquiry. Mr Cox said he believed ?the construction of wind turbines of this size and scale, in this location, would be at the expense of, and fundamentally contrary to, the economic interests of the people of West Devon.? While Mr Cox emphasised the need to embrace renewable technologies in order to mitigate the effects of burning fossil fuels and to achieve security of energy supplies, he said care needed to be taken in the selection of appropriate sites. While cautioning against ?nimby-ism? Mr Cox criticised the Government?s policy on renewable energy, saying: ?Forcing massive wind farms on people is entirely counterproductive. We should be trying to build a consensus for renewable energy generation, but the Government?s single minded fixation with large scale wind power risks alienating still further those it should be trying to win over. ?An array of clean, practical generation technologies are available, some of which could be implemented as community initiatives, others can be installed on individual properties.? Mr Cox also announced his intention to hold a sustainable energy exhibition and seminar in Winkleigh later this summer.
