Whole region 'could see wind turbines'

The Supplementary Planning Document, designed to guide future wind turbine development, has not ruled out any of nine sections of the district as being unsuitable for the turbines which are seen as a clean way of generating electricity.

But Coun Nick Guyatt, executive councillor for Planning Strategy at Huntingdonshire District Council, said the document did mean strict controls on where wind farms could be built.

The authority divided the district into nine sections and all but the Nene Valley in the extreme north of Huntingdonshire were rated as having a "high capacity" for development with a single turbine. There is then a sliding scale of sites through to those with a capacity for up to 25 or more turbines, although all nine were graded as "low" for the larger sites.

All but the Nene Valley were regarded as having high or moderate capacity to take two or three turbines and five were said to have high capacity for between four and 12 turbines.

The documents also makes it clear that sensitive areas should be protected from wind farm development and that care should be taken to avoid cumulative development.

The council's cabinet was due to consider the document on Thursday.

Coun Guyatt said that although turbines could be considered in the district, the reality was many individual sites would be ruled out.

He said: "I think it says there are lots of places where you could not have them."

Coun Guyatt thought there could be something like 50 turbines in total, divided between one or two sites of about 12 and the rest in clumps of one or two and three or four.

He also felt they would be developed on a first come, first served basis and once a site had been chosen it would exclude further development nearby.

Residents of Catworth have already had a successful battle against proposed turbines near the village after a village poll came out against the scheme.

Gareth Ridewood, chairman of the Huntingdonshire branch of the Campaign for the Protection of Rural England, welcomed the document.
He said: "We believe each wind power proposal should be assessed for its potential impact on the landscape and this includes the infrastructure associated with the development, such as power cables, buildings and access roads.

"We will strongly resist those which damage the beauty, tranquillity and diversity of the Huntingdonshire countryside."