Council lobbied over wind farm plans

NEARLY 250 objections have been raised over plans for a wind farm on the Yorkshire coast as campaigners maintained people are not aware of the true scale of the development.

Opposition is growing to the multi-million pound scheme that would see as many as 14 475ft turbines built on agricultural land close to Hunmanby, near Filey.

A planning application will be considered on Thursday next week by Scarborough Borough Council, which has received 245 objections to the wind farm proposals with a 260ft monitoring mast to be erected on land off Malton Road.

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Data would then help Banks Renewables, one of the country’s leading green energy firms, select the most suitable wind turbines.

Planning officers have recommended that the application should be approved – although they stressed that the monitoring mast needs to be considered separately from the proposed wind farm.

But campaigners from the newly-formed No To The Wolds Windfarm group are seeking reassurances the monitoring mast is not seen simply part of an “exercise of ticking boxes” before an actual planning application is submitted for the turbines.

The vice-chair of Hunmanby Parish Council, Michelle Donohue-Moncreff, has been appointed to lead the campaign group.

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She said: “We would ask that Banks Renewables analyses data from the monitoring mast carefully before any decision is reached on pursuing the plans for the wind farm. This is a huge deal for the local communities, and many people are still not aware of the scale of what is proposed. We would hope this is not simply about ticking boxes.”

Banks Renewables’ development director Phil Dyke stressed the project is at a “very early stage” and the firm is keen to hear people’s views. A planning application could be submitted by the end of the year and the wind farm could be operational by 2013 if it gets the go-ahead.