Renewable energy plans win support

Barnsley Council has received an application for the Archimedian Screw turbine which will be installed in a channel alongside the river at Bullhouse Mill, in Millhouse Green, north of Sheffield.

The application has been lodged by Booth Bros Printing Ltd, which is based at the mill, which also recently saw the installation of two wind turbines which stand around 80ft high.

According to blueprints submitted to the council the scheme involves the installation of a “screw turbine” which would be positioned at an angle to the river and the construction of the water channel.

If approved, the turbine will sit within a cylindrical structure which will have diameter of around 6ft and a length of around 23ft part of which would be located under the river surface.

A wooden platform and mesh walkway is proposed to surround a control building which will be located to the rear of the turbine.

The channel would start around 200ft upstream at the top of an existing weir and the water will then cascade through the cylinder, turning the turbine before flowing back into the river.

Some neighbours have objected to the hydro power scheme saying that the site already has wind turbines, which should be enough.

The objector says that water “crashing down the against the screw would be a major noise intrusion, especially at night, and also complain that the generator building will “spoil the natural line of the river embankment”.

Officers reject those arguments and will advise planning councillors to allow the project.

The second scheme involves a wind turbine at Thurlmoor Farm, on Brook Hill Lane in Carlecotes, Sheffield, which planners say is “sensitively sited” and should be allowed.