How to Object

 PLEASE DO NOT SIT BACK AND DO NOTHING. If this application is granted there is absolutely no right of appeal for our communities. Work could begin on construction within a very short time leading to our beautiful landscape being ruined for decades.

In the case of the Armistead wind farm, South Lakeland District Council will make the decision taking account of Government policy and the strength of local opinion. The Planning Committee will take particular note of the views of Town or Parish Councils, or local associations such as Civic Societies, and Conservation Groups.

Speak to your neighbours, friends and relatives - anyone who knows this area, enjoys it and wants to object to the proposal. Get them to write as well.

If you possibly can, try to send a copy of your objections to your Parish Council because they are there to represent your views and to your MP - Tim Farron. The best way to do this is to copy your letter to the Planning Authorities to them as well.

IMPORTANT POINTS REGARDING YOUR LETTER

 

Ensure that YOUR ADDRESS is at the head of the letterAt the start of the letter quote the PLANNING APPLICATION REFERENCE NUMBER & TITLE which is SL/2008/0318 - Windfarm on land East of Crosslands Farm, Old Hutton, Kendal, by H JBanks & Co LtdMake it clear in the first sentence that you OBJECT to the applicationYour objections will only carry weight if they ARE RELEVANT TO PLANNING LAW.

Some valid planning objections are given below - make sure you select as many as you think apply and make sure you get your strength of feeling across.

When you have written your letter post it to the planning officer in Kendal:

Mr Barry Jackson, Planning Officer,South Lakeland District Council, South Lakeland House, Lowther Street, Kendal, Cumbria, LA9 4DL or alternatively email it to development.control@southlakeland.gov.uk

Check which Parish Council represents you and send them a copy of your letter. The contact details for the Parish Councils who are either directly concerned or who are located where the wind farm will have significant visual impact can be found by clicking on the following links (You may need to permit 'pop ups' from our web site on your computer to get these links):

Barbon  Middleton (Parish Meeting 

Casterton   New Hutton

Firbank (Parish Meeting)   Natland (inc Oxenholme)

Hutton Roof   Old Hutton & Holmescales

Killington (Parish Meeting  Preston Patrick

Kirkby Lonsdale   Preston Richard

Lambrigg (Parish Meeting)   Sedbergh  

Lupton   Stainton

Mansergh (Parish Meeting)   Whinfell (Parish Meeting

Tim Farron MP can be contacted by emailing him via tim@timfarron.co.uk or writing to him at his constituency office - Acland House, Yard 2, Stricklandgate, Kendal LA9 4ND

Any objection that you make must be in your own words. The objection must be made using valid planning grounds - some of these are included below. You should select as many of these as you think apply to you.

Make sure that you get the strength of your feeling across explaining why YOU as an individual object e.g. "This proposal would place massive structures clearly visible from where I live and close to areas that I visit and enjoy and would severely affect my enjoyment of the countryside"

Adverse visual impact & Public Amenity – you may enjoy walking, bird-watching, cycling, fishing, horse-riding or another activity and appreciate the tranquillity and natural beauty of the area. Even if you enjoy the countryside miles away on the Lake District and North Yorkshire Fells and Moors you will be able to see this development clearly.

 As wind farms have been developed they have increased massively in size and are often in areas close to towns and villages where they will impact significantly on people living, working or travelling through the area. They can be truly overpowering and intrusive. The turbines proposed here at up to 100m high are enormous structures, completely out of scale with anything else in the landscape whether man-made or natural. It is very difficult to get people to understand just how large these turbines will be in their visual impact. ‘JUST BECAUSE YOU ARE A MILE OR TWO AWAY DOES NOT MEAN YOU WILL NOT SEE THE TURBINES’.

Banks Developments will produce photomontages - photographs with mock-ups of the turbines superimposed, as part of their planning application but it has been recognised by a number of reports that these underestimate the actual impact.

One of the difficulties other campaigns have had is to overcome general apathy and the feeling of people that they will not be affected. See " Will I be Affected" on this web-site to see just how far away you will see these things from.

The area around the proposed site is well served with well-used public rights of way. Horse riders, walkers, joggers, people walking their dogs and cyclists are generally in the countryside to enjoy it and as such represent the most sensitive people to changes in that landscape. The area has a value greater than just its intrinsic attractiveness because of the way that people use and value it.

Construction and site access – you may be concerned about the hundreds of heavy goods vehicle movements that may necessitate the widening of country lanes and cause problems for local businesses, commuters, school runs and emergency services. Access to the site will be from Junction 36 of the M6, along the A65 to Helmeside Road at Oxenholme, along Oxenholme High Street and then along the B6254 to the site entrance opposite Crosslands Farm.

People who live in Oxenholme already know what the problems are - these could get significantly worse during the construction phase.

Noise - One of the concerns for residents living near a wind farm is noise. Yet trying to find out just how noisy wind turbines will be, how close to the turbines you need to live for this to be a nuisance and if there will be health implications is fraught with difficulty. This is because the claims of the wind energy industry on noise seems to differ markedly from the experiences of many people who already live near to operating wind farms. Without doubt, some people are not troubled by wind farm noise while others find it deeply distressing leading to a loss of sleep, panic-like symptoms and disturbed heart rhythm.

There are a number of problems when trying to find your way past these conflicting positions:

1. The sensitivity of people to noise varies significantly. A level of noise that one individual would find acceptable can be a major nuisance to a more sensitive person.

2. The statutory methodology (ETSU-R-97) required by law to be used to assess the impact of noise from any proposed wind farm was developed in 1996 using the experience of the much smaller turbines (around half the size of the ones for Old Hutton) in use at that time. Even though the authors of ETSU accepted this problem and recommended a review within two years no such update has taken place in the last ten years.

Ecology - This wind farm represents a major industrial development in the middle of the countryside and as such there will inevitably be impacts on the ecology of the area. Banks Developments will carry out a full Environmental Impact Assessment on the ecological impacts and once that is published we will be able to critique the work they will have done.

Other relevant objections

 

•The area right up to the site has been identified as worthy of consideration for inclusion in the Yorkshire Dales National Park by 'Natural England'. How can the authorities allow this proposal to go ahead with this in mind?

•The area where the proposed wind farm will be built has previously been designated as a landscape of 'County Importance' - the landscape remains the same as it was when this designation was made!

•The application in 1998 failed because the planning committee themselves recognised the beauty of the landscape - again, nothing in this regard has changed except that the impact of the turbines being 100 feet taller will be even worse.

•There will be a cumulative visual effect caused by being able to see the turbines at Lambrigg as well as the ones being proposed from various places around the area. In some cases, from the B6254 Kirkby Lonsdale to Kendal road you will also be able to see the ones at Caton Moor. Do we really want to turn our landscape into one blighted by collections of these huge machines?

•There will be a risk to wildlife, notably to birds and water run-off (siltation of the streams caused by digging the massive foundations for the turbines) into Burns Beck Moss Nature Reserve (a local SSSI) and breeding streams for white-clawed crayfish (a protected species) and trout.

•The damage to the environment by pouring thousands of tons of concrete for the foundations may concern you - and it should, because this is likely to remain in the ground even if the turbines were to be removed in 20 or 25 years.

•The area is significant for rural recreation, walking, cycling, horse riding, bird watching, and peaceful enjoyment. These pleasures will be markedly degraded by this wind farm.

•The experience of tourists visiting Kirkby Lonsdale and the surrounding area will be diminished by this plan and some local B&Bs and small hotels may suffer some loss of income.

•There is no need to build the wind farm where it is proposed. Offshore developments are already supported by the government and impact far less on people and the landscape.

Your letter does not need to be long or complicated. Using the information on this web site, simply get your points of objection across in your own words.

YOUR LETTER MUST ARRIVE WITH THE PLANNING AUTHORITIES IN KENDAL BY 30th OCTOBER -BUT PLEASE DO NOT LEAVE IT THAT LATE. IF YOU EMAIL IT, PLEASE ALSO SEND A COPY TO US AT ablot@kencomp.net