Calderdale wind farm: Campaigners fight plans for wind farm at Walshaw Moor in Hebden Bridge

Around 20 campaigners lobbied Cabinet members outside Halifax Town Hall when they arrived for yesterday afternoon’s (March 11) meeting.

Ban The Burn, which originally formed to campaign against grouse shooting on peat moorland above Hebden Bridge, also had a 160-signature petition registering concerns over Calder Wind Farm Ltd’s proposals for a 65-turbine wind farm on more than 2,300 hectares of land at Walshaw Moor, above the town.

The campaigners say they support onshore wind farms but not on peatland like Walshaw Moor, arguing a huge wind farm on Walshaw Moor’s blanket bog would make a nature crisis worse and would not make the climate crisis better by damaging the peat.

Campaigners say the supporting letter with the petition protests flaws they perceive in the way data which will inform the company’s case is generated and calculated.

Calderdale Council, as the planning authority to which the company submitted a scoping report for the scheme, has told the developers they must come up with data supporting their claims about energy generation and net zero goals.

The campaigners’ letter says: “There is no imperative reason of overriding public interest for their wind farm to go ahead and damage the integrity of the protected site’s peatland habitats, and the red-listed birds and other wildlife that depend on them.

“Wind farms could be sited solely on non-peatland sites, and other forms of renewable energy are available to meet carbon emission reduction targets.”