April 2012

Pedal Powered Horse Racing raises £1,310 for campaign

A fantastic night of “Pedal Powered Horse Racing” was had by all young and old at Mark Village Hall last Friday 27th April. Nearly one hundred people gathered to support NoPilrow, who are fighting against the building of a Wind Farm at Rooksbridge.

Seven races were run, with guests having the chance to buy each horse as well as placing bets. In addition to this, there was a pig roast and licensed bar. In total £1,310 was raised.

NoPilrow spokesman David Maund said, “It was a very successful evening, with everyone joining in and competing. I would like to say a huge thank you to all of the team that made this possible.”

Broadview Energy have indicated, that they anticipate being in a position to submit a planning application for the Rooksbridge Wind Farm by late April. NoPilrow spokesman David continued “These added funds are very welcome as we are now stepping up our campaign in readiness for the planning application. This has been a very good week, with the fantastic news that the two Huntspill Wind Farms have been rejected by Sedgemoor District Council. We are absolutely delighted for the residents of Huntspill. It is obvious that the residents of Somerset and those that represent them, do not want monstrous mechanical structures blighting their beautiful open countryside”.

As soon as the planning is submitted, NoPilrow will be holding events to show people how they can have their say. NoPilrow committee member Nick Woolmington said, “This will be critical to our fight, as we need as many people as possible to write to the District Council, opposing this application. I hope that Broadview energy will reconsider submitting their planning application now, in light of the overwhelming opposition to wind farms at all local levels - Parish, District and County. The recently enacted Localism Act as one of the central planks of Government policy and planning minister Greg Clark's statement that planning must respect decisions taken locally, surely indicate that this is not the development for this area. We are ready and will not stop until we have won our battle !"

Controversial wind farm plans near Burnham are rejected

This news item is associated with our close neighbours East & West Huntspill

Great News - Both Wind Farm applications in the Huntspill areas turned DOWN by SDC Developement Committe. 9 opposed, 4 in favour. Main consideration Visual Impact on unique Somerset Levels. Lets hope that Broadview will now reconsider their potential plans for a windfarm at Pilrow

Controversial plans for new wind farm near Burnham set for approval

This news item is associated with our close neighbours East & West Huntspill. Read more by clicking here.

Sedgemoor's Development Control Committee will consider the proposals in detail on Tuesday 24th April in Burnham's Princess Theatre in Princess Street from 9.30am. The meeting is being held in a larger, nearer venue to the application sites because of the anticipated level of public interest. If any local residents and/or NoPilrow supporters can find the time to attend this meeting, then the support would be greatly appreciated by the Huntspill action group. The decision made at this meeting will also have some bearing on decisions associated with the Pilrow site.

Broadview announce Wind Speed Updates

Broadview on their website have announced the wind speed updates for January and February coming in at 7.6m/s and 5.7m/s respectively. Broadview go on to say that this gives a rolling average for the five months from October 2011 to February 2012 of 6.9m/s at 70m above ground.

Just to put these "good wind speeds" into perspective I think it is worth while examining what they mean.

Firstly the average wind speed of 6.9 m/s agrees very closely with the NoPilrow calculations taken from the B o S web site. These consist of readings at 6hr intervals so by using an industry standard formula to equate to the 70m high readings from Broadview and using Excel to produce the appropriate graphs over the 5 month period the average is 6.8m/s, so no argument there.

However:

1. If March is included, the average drops to 6.4m/s and with a calm start to April it could come down even further.

2. This six month period should include the windiest months of the year and therefore 6.4 or even 6.9 m/s cannot be considered satisfactory under any circumstances. It is likely that the summer months could well see the average wind speed drop below even the Met Office figs for the area of an average year of 6 m/s for this area.

3. Again using industry standard graphs the output from turbines are as follows:

a) 6 M/s wind speed equates to an output of 0.35 M/W per hr or a load factor of 14% for a 2.5 M/W turbine
b) 7 M/s wind speed equates to an output of 0.50 M/W per hr or a load factor of 20% for a 2.5 M/W turbine
c) 8 M/s wind speed equates to an output of 0.75 M/W per hr or a load factor of 30% for a 2.5 M/W turbine

4. Since Broadview's own website states that they can supply 5300+ houses with 4,700 kw hrs of electricity each per year this would indicate a load factor of 28.5% so they need a considerable amount of increased wind over the next six months to achieve even this somewhat minimum amount. It cannot be done unless we have some freak storms.

Burnham wind farm proposals 'to be submitted to planners this month'

The latest view when Broadview are to submitt formal a planning application. Click here for details

Broadview Panoramic Montages

The NoPilrow Committee believe that the panoramic montages produced by Broadview Energy are both misleading and unrepresentative of the actual view that will be seen by local residents. Most of these images are viewed from a distance and do not represent the enormous visual impact and environmental damage to our beautiful countryside that will become so evident if the Rooksbridge wind farm goes ahead.

Spokesman for NoPilrow, David Maund said "We have taken specialist advice regarding these montages and have been told that they “should be viewed with the image curved around one’s head”! Local residents do not look for complicated photo trickery, they simply wish to see the visual effect this wind farm will have on the outlook from their houses, as well as from the surrounding areas.

We have taken these montages as shown on the Broadview Energy Website and had them converted to single-frame images with a 75mm focal length. These images can be viewed flat on a computer screen and are in a format that everyone is familiar with. It is obvious that the effects will be far worse than the situation Broadview is trying to project. In addition we at NoPilrow and local people generally are very concerned that they have not seen a single montage produced from the gardens of residents who will have a direct outlook onto the wind farm site; including those residents in the Mudgely Road area of Rooksbridge, the houses all along Old Bristol Road and A370 in East Brent and the houses along the A38 where all will have clear views over flat open countryside of these 400+ ft monstrosities.

David Maund continued “These montages should have been produced a long time ago in a simple clear format. I am in no doubt that the residents will be horrified when the real implications hit home and they are faced with the true representation of views from their homes. It seems to me that the only logical explanation for Broadview’s lack of relevant material is that they are only too aware of the enormous significant visual impact this wind farm will generate. Many residents from Mark, Rooksbridge and East Brent have asked how this industrial site will affect their house and it is clearly Broadview’s responsibility to answer these concerns.

NoPilrow are holding several fund raising events in the coming weeks. There will be a fun Horse Racing night on Friday 27th April at Mark Village Hall, which at £10 per head will include a pig roast. Please click here for further details, or call 07921 220343.

In the coming weeks and months, NoPilrow will be stepping up their campaign including leaflet drops and events to advise local residents on how they can put forward their objections to the district council when and if a planning application is submitted.

Panaoramic View East from Viewpoint C: Adjacent to Jubilee Stone on top of Brent Knoll

First picture is a photgraph of Existing View, then the Broadview's Wireframe, followed by a Photomontage using the same view

Single Frame Image 75mm Focal length from same point as above:

Panaoramic View South from Viewpoint D: Brent Road and Weston Road crossroads in East Brent

First picture is a photgraph of Existing View, then the Broadview's Wireframe, followed by a Photomontage using the same view

Single Frame Image 75mm Focal length from same point as above: