What - 30 Wind turbine generators each 125 metres high ( 405 feet ) on three sites. See How big to compare 125 metres with local landmarks.

Where - Woodlane between Birkin, W Haddlesey, Gateforth and Hillam Common.
- Bishopwood near to Hambleton and Thorpe Willoughby.
- Byram proposal in Byram Park.

See Where for the location of the sites and position of each turbine.

Too close to homes - many will have 7 turbines within 1 miles. One will be in shadow from a turbine at noon in the mid winter. Several will have turbines within 800 metres.

What should we worry about :-

1. House prices - the windfarm industry claim no detrimental impact. No study is concerned exclusively with houses within one or two miles of turbines, one study is based on prices of houses 7 miles away. See our House prices page for more information. A local estate agent quoted a 20% fall for one home.

2. Noise - planning regulations permit a night time noise level from the turbines of 43dB. In our area night time background noise can be as low as 25dB. Going from 25dB to 43dB is an eight fold increase of noise energy ( perceived to be about 4 times louder). Furthermore turbine noise is continuous and very annoying. Some people living near to turbines complain of a swishing and thumping noise which experts say is due to Aerodynamic modulation. This can cause unbearable noise problems for people down wind of wind farms and can result in people having to leave their homes. See our Noise report for more information and case studies.

3. Blot on the Landscape / Wind turbine city - The rural tranquility will be lost forever. If these proposals were to go ahead our skyline all around the area dominated by turbines. See the graphic at the head of this page and our interactive map with photomontages. The area would become "wind turbine city".

4. Disruption and construction noise - see our information about the construction phase and the machinery involved. 100 large loads to be brought in through Byram and down Sutton Lane, resulting in road closures and noise. Over 1000 lorry loads of concrete for the construction of foundations. As many as 30 piles driven 26 metres into the ground may be required for each turbine.

5. Environmental damage - What damage will be done to the water table , what damage will be done to the fragile drainage systems in the area, will we get more flooding. How will the turbines impact upon the migratory birds that pass through the area.

6. Collateral damage - a nice military term for unexpected consequences. Extra power lines will be required to connect to the grid. Either overhead or underground 66kVolt cables requiring trenches. Will there be a batch concrete making plant on-site? What about the network of new service roads across the fields needed to delivery the turbines and the cranes needed to lift 70 tons up to a height of 80 metres. See our construction pages to find out more.

7. Wind farm industry spin - its not just the turbine blades that spin. Click here to visit our spin page to find out more.

As villagers we are standing all the risk and have no chance of any gain. Some could see the value of homes reduced by 20% or more. We are being used as an experiment. Windfarms of this size should be located further away from where people live. In France a minimum distance to dwellings of 1.5km (approx 1 mile) is advocated for turbines of this size and in Scotland anything closer than 2km is described as prominent and is avoided.

The proposed wind farms will be at best produce an average of only 25% of their rated maximum power. We think that due to low wind conditions in the area it will be at best only 20% or an average of only 0.5MW per turbine. The proposed turbines do not start to generate until the wind speed exceeds 9 miles per hour. They require steady wind of 27mph or more to reach full power output. On average Eggborough generates 2000 times more power than this. If needed it can produce up to 1960MW or nearly 4000 times more than the wind farm average per turbine.

8. Financial Impact
This is a dash for wind, and the only winners are the developers of wind farms because of indirect subsidy that we pay for through our electricity bills.

According to a House of Lords Review the higher costs associated with renewable generation, in comparison to conventional or nuclear, would raise electricity generation and transmission costs by £6.8billion per year, a 38% increase that would have to be met by UK consumers.

We need to say no and we need to do so now. Proposals like those at Woodlane, Bishoopwod and Ferrybridge have been rejected elsewhere, we need to fight these proposals and ensure that the planning applications are rejected.