Good Energy loses windfarm planning appeal

Proposed development would have been an “alien presence” says DCLG

Good Energy has lost a planning appeal to build a 38.5MW windfarm in north Cornwall.

The communities secretary Sajid Javid has upheld an earlier decision by the planning inspectorate to refuse permission for the green energy provider to build the 11-turbine Big Field windfarm on farmland in the village of Week St Mary in north Cornwall.

Good Energy originally applied for planning permission in 2014, but the application was refused by Cornwall Council in the same year.

The company appealed against the decision and a planning inquiry was held in 2016, which recommended it be dismissed.

A letter from the Department for Communities and Local Government states the communities secretary agrees with the planning inspector’s conclusion that the proposed turbines would be “an incongruous presence of significant scale”.

“He further agrees that this alien presence would harm the area of outstanding natural beauty itself and the Heritage Coast,” the letter states.

In a statement, Good Energy said the planning application was submitted “when we were still actively developing new wind and solar farms”.

“Since then our focus has moved away from development to sourcing our growing renewable power needs from partners,” the statement adds.

Good Energy’s chief executive, Juliet Davenport, said the government’s continuing opposition to onshore wind is “baffling and risks condemning consumers to higher energy bills for years to come”.

“As a community-owned windfarm generating enough renewable electricity for around 22,000 average homes, the Big Field would have made a major contribution to targets for the locally-owned renewable generation set in Cornwall’s energy strategy,” added Davenport.

“Without it, those ambitions begin to look very hard to reach.”

But local MP Scott Mann welcomed the government’s decision and said it was “one of the biggest local issues” to come across his desk.

“For many months, local residents, parish councils and I have been working together to voice all of our concerns about the impacts this windfarm would have on the beautiful north Cornwall landscape and local heritage assets,” said Mann.

“In 2015, the Conservative government said it would give local communities a louder voice when it came to windfarm proposals, and the concerns of local residents in Week St Mary and surrounding communities have certainly been listened to,” he added.