Content © Stopwoodlanewindfarm 2008 - 2011
Too many turbines, Too close to Too many homes.
The Planning rules
In England there is no distance-based rule about how close to a home a wind turbine over 400 feet high can be built.
- In Scotland planning guidance says industrial turbines should not be closer than 2km
- A Private Member’s Bill before Parliament called for a 2km limit in England
- In Northern Ireland planning rules set a minimum distance of 10 x rotor diameters (or 900m for a Woodlane turbine)
- Prowind, the German company proposing Woodlane wind farm chose a 500m limit
- Parts of turbine blade have been thrown 1.3km when a blade failed in Germany.
How close is too close?
Have look by selecting the distance to look at.
5km - Closest distance for offshore wind farms - Woodlane has 16 villages closer than this.
2km - Closest distance recommended for on shore. Three complete villages
10 rotor dia ( 900 m) minimum in N ireland - Woodlane has 30 homes closer.
Compare Woodlane with Lissett - no homes are closer than 900 m
500 metres - how close the developers would like their turbines to maximise profits
There should be a minimum distance of 2km on health, visual and noise grounds - See key Issues