Not In My Backyard - Errr - oh go on then... 4/11/2011

In a year when NIMBY protests help reduce wind farm consents to a five year low, protesters in Leicester admit they were "wrong" to object to the counties first windfarm. Anti - windfarm protests help reduce consents to 5 year low Wind is one of the most reliable and mature sources of renewable energy in the UK - and also  one of the most divisive  At a time when UK wind and marine renewables industries are struggling to obtain consent for new wind projects with an average approval rate for wind farms of just of just 26% by capacity last year, there's some good news from one group of protesters. 

Frequently cited as one of the "worst rural eyesores" and the cause of vociferous protests campaigns nationwide, windfarms stand accused of killing birds, creating noise, flicker and visual pollution.

For anyone growing up in places like the Trent Valley, home to numerous massive coal fired power stations these may seem like minor problems - but the cat owning Nimbys of Britain (in case you are wondering - cats are reckoned to kill 50 million birds a year in the UK - windfarms - maybe 5000) are determined that windfarms are a major threat to property prices and amenity. 

"Wind farm - what wind farm? - we hardly know they are there"

 It must be some comfort to the wind industry to know that residents in rural Leicestershire  have found their fears about the county's first wind farm were unfounded. The Leicester Mercury report that a group of wind turbine protesters admit “we were wrong about turbine noise” Villagers in Leicestershire launched a vigorous campaign against a windfarm proposal sited between the villages of Gilmorton, Ashby Magna and Dunton Bassett. Concerns that the 410 foot turbines would create noise have proved to be wrong and residents say they “hardly notice the turbines.

 One resident – Mr John Phillips, who attended all the protest meetings and admitted to being against the project from the start said: “...now, I must say they really don't bother me. I can't hear them and I can barely see them. It's like the industrial revolution all over again – people don't like change until it actually happens – then they get used to it” Since they started running in early October the turbines have produced 2.5 gigawatts of electricity – while local Parish Councils will receive over £5000 pounds a year as part of the agreement with the developer.