Wind turbine in Souldrop!

On the 28th January, planning permission was successfully granted for the Winsey Farm wind turbine near Souldrop. Once erected, the 225kW turbine will provide power for Winsey Farm’s turkey, pig and arable farming business and contributing to the land’s self-sufficiency according the owner.

To assess the visual impact of the turbine, the council’s planning committee visited the site on Monday 21st January on a snowy morning for which engineers flew a blimp to 50m, the height of the turbine’s hub. Attached to this was a smaller balloon, flown to 64m to represent the length of its blades. The turbine’s size and levels of visibility from surrounding areas were taken into consideration as viewed from several positions determined by the planning committee.  Unfortunately for those opposed to the turbine,  given the near white out conditions of an overcast, snow laden landscape and given the blimp and balloon where both coloured white, the planning committee deemed the turbine not to be intrusive and gave the construction of the turbine the go ahead.

The Middle Farm planning application is currently on hold as the proprietor is re-evaluating his plans which will include the turbine itself being relocated to a position of further distance from the village of Souldrop. Therefore a new planning application is in the process of being submitted for this larger turbine.

So Souldrop  will have it’s first wind turbine, please feel free to comment below.