Blurton families fight plans for 209ft wind turbine on former Hem Heath colliery site
PROTESTERS are urging residents to sign a petition against plans to build a 209-foot high wind turbine near a housing estate.
Blurton families have been told that proposals will be put before Stoke-on-Trent City Council for a mast on the former Hem Heath colliery site off Tilery Lane.
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The site of the proposed wind turbine in Blurton.
The neighbours received a leaflet with details of the plans from agents working for the developers.
A formal planning application has yet to be submitted to the authority, but families have already launched a petition, so far signed by about 100 people, against the wind turbine.
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Residents argue that the 64-metre structure would be too close to neighbouring houses, and would be seen as far away as Trentham.
Mother-of-three Deborah Ward, of Tilery Lane, said: "We don't want it. I think it is disgusting.
"I'm not saying it will fall over, but if it did, it would land in my garden, it is so close. We keep and fly pigeons and we don't know how it's going to affect them.
"If they want a wind turbine it should be out in the countryside, not right next to a housing estate."
Julie Connon-Griffiths, aged 48, of Consett Road, Blurton, said: "This could be the first of many. If this goes ahead, what is to stop developers putting them up next to Hanley Park, Longton Park, or even Trentham Lakes.
"There is the noise pollution, the unbearable hum of the large swishing blades and there could be interruption of television due to interference to TV aerials. They are also an eyesore and will inevitably cause the devaluation of our properties."
Julie's father, John Connon, is a retired miner and former NUM union leader who worked at Hem Heath.
The 74-year-old, who lives on Brocton Walk, Blurton, overlooking the old colliery site, said: "The size of this wind turbine is ridiculous and the position of it is wrong, it is too close to houses."
Applications close to housing estates are rare, although plans to install 14 wind turbines next to Goodwin International's Ivy House Road base in Hanley were scrapped last year after the company listened to residents' concerns.
The Blurton proposals are for a 137ft (42m) high mast, with blades stretching up another 72ft (22m), generating 500kW of energy.
The site, which borders Sir Stanley Matthews Way and Longton Rugby Club, was sold at a public auction last May by St Modwen, and bought by Devon-based developer Woodvale.
A design statement, produced by Staffordshire-based agent GJ Campbell on behalf of Woodvale, says: "The immediate location for the turbine is open ground at the edge of public open space, largely used as amenity space, playing fields and walking area on the edge of the Blurton estate. The site overlooks Longton in the distance and is perfect for wind generation due to its exposed valley position.
"The electricity will feed into the local grid network via an underground cable link to the nearest sub station."
Protesters have previously fought plans to build wind turbines at various sites in the Staffordshire Moorlands countryside.
In April, councillors threw out an application for a 59ft (18m) wind farm on land at Calton Moor
In October, Staffordshire County Council's cabinet signed a policy on turbines, which included no structures within 2km of residential developments to protect homeowners from noise disturbance and spoiled views.
13 Comments
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by johndavies
Tuesday, April 23 2013, 9:03AM
“Wind Turbines-
Do they cost us money -YES
Are the subsidies a scam – YES
Are they a good investment for the developer – YES
Do they cut CO2 – NO
Do they give reliable energy - NO
Do they give energy security - NO
Are they fit for purpose - NO
Should we build more – NO
They are the wrong technology for the job, chosen by ill-informed politicians, not engineers.
Currently we have approx 4,500 turbines that provide on average just 5% of demand, at a cost of £billions / yr to the UK people.
To see how well they are not doing look here -
This site gives Live UK Grid status - demand & generation by all fuels.….. now + Day, Wk, Mth, Yr, history.
Caution *, scales are all different so don't compare at first glance !! Look at the figures !! http://tinyurl.com/6ja8btf
To see how much the SwindLE scam is costing us -
For a flavour of CASH generated by windfarms per mth, (More than 50% is subsidy's.) see- http://tinyurl.com/cgmq86d
( See this List of some (700ish) UK windfarms – includes Generation payments, OFGEM ROC payments + Capacity factors, Outputs, Graphs, Maps. - http://tinyurl.com/bsfuclq
itch.co.uk/stations/ )
thats the reason your bills are high !!”
by nick1811
Monday, March 11 2013, 5:12PM
“At least it will not be seen at the nice end of trentham and most people in blurton will not be able to view it as most will be too spaced out”
by Spa58
Monday, March 11 2013, 4:50PM
“if it can be seen from Trentham, oh my word, the shame of it !”
by KingTut
Tuesday, March 05 2013, 2:06PM
“@stokepotter
"Perhaps this time he will have something constructive to write that is worth reading - . If so it will be something he has not done in the past."
You know stokepotter, I was just thinking the same thing about you.
Spooky eh?”
by Alberus
Tuesday, March 05 2013, 9:32AM
“I read the other day that the new director at the National Trust thinks wind farms are things of beauty. Bet she would scream blue murder if they built one next to her house. She probably thinks one would look nice next to Little Moreton Hall or Biddulph Grange. These things are the most controversial and in-your-face means of power generation known to man. Their power output is so small and variable (no wind, no juice) that whole batteries of them are needed to compensate for their poor performance. But hey, people can make fortunes from them, so that's all right then.”
by stokepotter
Tuesday, March 05 2013, 8:30AM
“Ahah. I see Kingtut has crawled out of his luxurious tomb again at last. Perhaps this time he will have something constructive to write that is worth reading - . If so it will be something he has not done in the past.”
by KingTut
Monday, March 04 2013, 10:53PM
“@stokepotter
Well said stokepotter. After all, we wouldn't want to have all those icky-wicky smells wafting around Trentham and spoiling the middle-class ambiance, would we?”
by stokepotter
Monday, March 04 2013, 9:23PM
“There is a plus to building a wind turbine there as it may blow the smell from the new Severn Trent sewage works to be built away from Trentham and Barlaston.”
by mowcopman
Monday, March 04 2013, 12:44PM
“There's a big turbine like this in Reading. People didn't like it first but then they realised actually it was quite cool and is a real land mark, it's quiet and generates clean electricity so a win win in their book.”
by Robnoxious
Monday, March 04 2013, 12:00PM
“HAY-Are rabbits allowed. It will be alright in the summer,it will keep you cool, nice big fan. Not that i am a fan of rabbits, even though people like smoking them out. It will also get rid of the bad smell that lingers at Meir, rabbit droppings. I WILL HAVE TO KEEP MY BIG EARS CLOSE TO THE GROUND.
ARE YOU SURE THIS IS NOT A WIND UP?”