December 2011

Newsletter

The committee remains vigilant and active on any issues raised on the proposed wind farm and this is a brief message to our supporters to update you on the current position.

At this time it has gone quiet with Broadview extending their timeline which is excellent news as this gives us more time to collate data prior to Broadview attempting to put in a planning application.

From a local survey we have almost 90% backing from the residents of Rooksbridge and East Brent against the proposed wind farm and we have made representations to the Parish Council, Sedgemoor District Council, our local County Councillor John Denbee, and last but not least our local MP Tessa Munt. We are heartened that Tessa and John are fully behind our campaign to beat this senseless proposal and send it packing!

We have people on the committee giving up their valuable time on your behalf scouring the internet, political commentaries, and environmental issues so we can be prepared to fight this unreasonable proposal.

Unfortunately there is a hard fact that we do need money to be able to obtain Independent reports to back up our findings and we have held some social events which has already raised funds to get us going. We hope you have enjoyed these events. We will need to continue with this and we ask that if you are behind your committee that you continue to attend the functions and contribute as much as you can while being entertained.

We DO NOT intend to give up the fight and we are not going to let this slip though and we remain vigilant. We must all be aware that while the pace of progress seems slow at present we duly expect this to become quite frantic when planning is sought.

Thank you all for your continued support and on behalf of the committee we wish you a very Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year

Quiz night raises £245 for campaign

The second quiz night held has raised £245 for the NoPilrow campaign - click her for details

Initial wind speed findings positive (or is it really hype?)

On the 1st December, Broadview Energy published (via their website) the first figure associated with the wind speed for the month of October. The average wind speed data collected by the met mast, has been stated as 6.8 m/s, 70m above ground. Broadview are claimig to be pleased with the reading. However, whilst the information states that the data is for the first full month of October, it does not state if the data used was based on all readings for every day of the the month, 24 hours a day, or over a selected period. It also does not state which average was used (i.e. was it mean, median or mode) as this could also make a difference.

If we assume that the best set of readings were used, with the average calculation using the most favourable method (from Broadviews perspective) then a figure of 6.8 m/s in the standard graph to show a turbine efficiency for a 2.5 MW turbine, would be 19% efficient.

Ask yourself a question - Would you invest or purchase a product that only runs at less than a fifth of capacity ?

Newly elected County Councillor against Pilrow Windfarm

Local man (John Denbee) wins County Council Seat in the Brent area. Further information can be found by clicking here.