Wind turbines to be approved despite air safety fears
30.05.08
Local planners are set to confirm a decision to approve 7 massive wind turbines on the Northumberland coastline – despite fears that they pose a risk to aircraft safety. Wansbeck Council has taken expert legal advice and has concluded that it does not need to reconsider the application to erect the giant turbines along Blyth Harbour.
Site owner Hainsford Energy wants to replace the existing harbour wind farm with new and more powerful turbines, 6 of which would be 125m high and the seventh the biggest land-based turbine in Europe at 163m.
Four months ago Wansbeck councillors agreed in principle to approve the plans, despite a formal objection from Newcastle Airport, which says that the turbines will cause interference on air traffic control radar screens and pose a potential threat to flight safety. The airport also claims it might have to create an exclusion zone around the wind farm and reroute incoming and outbound flights by 5 nautical miles.
After January’s decision the council was forced to consult the Civil Aviation Authority, which has since supported fears that the height of the turbines would have an impact on operations at the airport. Now council officials have taken legal advice and next month will recommend the planning committee confirm its backing for the turbines, saying there are no grounds for changing the original decision.
It will then be up to the Government Office for the North-East to decide whether to confirm planning approval or agree to the airport’s request for the application to be called in by the Secretary of State and a public inquiry held to examine the safety concerns.
A spokesman for Newcastle Airport said it was disappointed council officers were recommending that the application should not be reconsidered. He said: ‘Our request that the Secretary of State should call in this application and hold a public inquiry still stands and will be re-stated.’
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