27th November 2011

We were greatly surprised to find that yet another wind turbine application affecting the Parish of Boltons has recently been received. This time at Lane Head Farm, Boltongate.

Firstly, and very importantly, please note that this is Lane Head Farm at Boltongate and not Lane Head farmhouse at Bolton Low Houses!

The application is for a single 80m turbine.  It would be in very close proximity to the proposed site of Little Waver Wind Farm.  This turbine would stand on the ridge above the Little Waver group.  The developer is a company called Stern Wind Ltd.

As stated above, whilst it may be a single turbine, this is not a small one.  The Renewable Energy Capacity and Deployment Study to which I referred in the last newsletter defines a small scale wind development as having a capacity of less than 100KW and normally comprising a single turbine with height less than 15m.  It will usually supply on site demand before feeding excess electricity to the National Grid.  The source of this definition is given as the Department of Energy and Climate Change itself.

At a height of 80m and with no mention of the electricity produced being used to supply the site, the turbine proposed at Lane Head Farm can in no way be regarded as a small scale development.  The turbine would be visible from many miles away.  It is also likely to be the case that, if this proposal goes ahead, it will make Your Energy’s plans for eight more turbines very close by more difficult to challenge.

View the planning application here.