Wind-turbine schemes blown away

Reporter: Helen Korn
Date online: 17 February 2012

APPLICATIONS for two wind turbines at farms in Shaw and Dobcross have been turned down by Oldham Planning Committee.

Committee members said the proposals for a 29-metre (37.7 yd) high turbine at Rushey Fields Farm in Shaw and a 10-metre (10.9 yd) turbine on a 15-metre (16.4 yd) pole at Parkfield Farm in Dobcross, would “barely provide enough energy to boil a kettle”.

Agent David Whitehead, speaking on the Shaw plan for Stonebridge Enterprise Ltd, said there were already visible amenities such as phone masts in the local area and that the proposal was considered a small turbine.

David Makin, representing Saddleworth Moors Action Group and residents from Dobcross, said the turbine would be an eyesore, and would ruin the green belt land. He added that the claim made to reduce CO2 was disingenuous.

Councillor Alan Roughley said the land was not simply “non-descript grazing land” and that tourists came from all over to visit the area of tranquility.

He added that if the plans had gone ahead, the area would become an “industrial scrapyard in 10 years’ time.”

Committee members decided both applications would be inappropriate for greenbelt land and the proposed turbines — by reason of design, height and scale — was of an excessively intrusive nature