Energy is essential for almost every aspect of our lives and for the success of the economy. The UK Government recognises that we face long term challenges in terms of tackling climate change and ensuring secure, clean and affordable energy as we become increasingly dependent on imported fuel.
LUC’s planning team co-ordinated the Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) and Planning Statement for a five-turbine wind farm on behalf of RWE npower renewables.
South of Mansfield, Nottinghamshire, Lindhurst Wind Farm site lies outside any designated areas, is in close proximity to an existing grid connection, and has no radar or other aviation issues. The key significant impacts identified by the EIA centred around the visual impact of the wind farm, with no significant impacts identified on hydrology, ecology, archaeology, cultural heritage, or due to noise or traffic.
As part of the site lies within the green belt, a key issue the Planning Statement had to address was the extent to which the proposed wind farm could have an impact on the sense of openness of the green belt. We prepared a detailed Green Belt Assessment which, in conjunction with the Planning Statement, illustrated that the wind farm could be compatible with the objectives of the green belt designation close to an urban area.
The scheme was granted planning permission by committee members in September 2007 (without going to public inquiry) and will be the first of its kind in the region. It is expected to be generating electricity by the end of 2010.
The turbines at Lindhurst Wind Farm will each have a generating capacity of 1.8MW and a tip height of 125 metres. The annual generation expected at the site would be equivalent to the approximate domestic needs of up to 5,400 average UK households¹. The BBC reported that over 3,000 letters were sent by local residents in support of the application.
¹ Energy predicted to be generated by the proposal is derived using wind speeds monitored in the local area and correlating to existing wind farms. This enables a calculation to be made to estimate the average annual energy production for the site based on five turbines each of rated capacity 1.8MW.
Equivalent homes supplied is based on an annual electricity consumption per home of 4700 kWh, which is derived from a total UK domestic electricity consumption of 117.589 terawatt-hours (TWh) (The Digest of UK Energy Statistics 2005) and 25.2 million UK households (Mid-year Household Estimates published in 2004 by the Office for National Statistics).
