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Commons windfarm warning is given

by Stuart Arnold

LOCAL people are being ignored in the rush to build a 30-turbine wind farm 1.4km off the North-East coast, an MP has warned.

Vera Baird criticised rules that meant a planning inquiry might not be held to decide the proposal for Redcar, Teesside, despite the opposition of residents, local councils and four MPs.

She said: "No matter how rational the local objections, they can be killed in the understandable rush to renewables."

Ms Baird's protests came during a Commons debate on the Government's plans to expand wind power to meet its target for generating power from renewable sources.

Thoe plans include a wind farm off Redcar, with each turbine measuring 135 metres (450ft) high.

Ms Baird told MPs: "The easternmost would be 1.4km off the tourist office in the middle of the town and the next would be opposite the seafront cinema."

She said the five-mile stretch of sand was a "special treat for the local people who go there to breathe its free air, refresh their minds with the fresh, clean sea view and lift their horizons from the humdrum".

She said the area was already making a significant contribution to renewable energy and was happy to do more, but not at such a cost to the town.

She said: "There are real concerns about the impact on the area of such an industrial installation.

"If an offshore station were erected, people would be living between two wind farms, which is probably not tolerable.

"Between 5,000 and 6,000 people have signed a petition against the proposed wind farm. It is imperative that, in the rush to wind power, despite its merits, everything else is not driven before it."

Environment Minister Elliot Morley said Ms Baird had made a strong argument.

Published 28/10/04