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Swimming pool wind turbine plan

2:04pm Thursday 21st June 2007

comment Comments (9)   Have your say »


A SWIMMING pool is set to be powered by alternative energy after proposals for a wind turbine were given the go ahead.

The proposed turbine will be installed at Edisford Swimming Pool, Edisford Road, Clitheroe, after Ribble Valley Council's planning committee voted in favour of the scheme.

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Officials will now assess the cost effectiveness of the project and said it was unclear what the exact cost of the project will be.

Under the plans, the pole supporting the turbine will be six metres tall, with each blade measuring five metres.

The blades are described as helical - meaning they are twisted - and have a width of 3.1metres.

It will be situated on land near to the grass football pitches next to the pool's changing rooms.

Rod Pearce, Ribble Valley Council's principal surveyor, said: "We will now conduct a four-week feasibility study into how effective the proposed wind turbine will be, then report back to committee.

"Ribble Valley Borough Council is committed to protecting and enhancing the environmental quality of the area."

The original application was initially deferred but following its approval, local councillors said they saw no real problems with the project.

Coun Alan Yearing, Liberal Democrat councillor for Edisford and Low Moor, said very few residents had voiced concerns about the scheme.

He said: "In terms of the use of energy-saving technology, I am in favour of it.

"Obviously, there may be some concern from residents but I have only had one person contact me regarding this issue. I think there is just a concern about whether it is going to be intrusive to the surrounding people.

"I sometimes feel they are more pleasing to the eye than pylons that criss-cross the country."

This latest project follows similar ones in Ribble Valley which have seen wind turbines go up in an effort to cut costs.

One of these was a small turbine on the side of a house in Longridge while back in March Bowland Wild Boar Park in Chipping got the go-ahead to erect a £30,000 wind turbine.

Officials are not ruling out looking in to other alternatives such as solar panels.

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Your Say YourLancashire Telegraph

Gordon Pye, says...
3:20pm Thu 21 Jun 07

This wind turbine proposal shows just how eco-brainwashed our generally scientifically uneducated councillors have become. All the evidence suggests that wind turbines are totally inefficient even if they are working at all. Perhaps RVBC councillors should visit the BBC2 Newsnight web site where an evaluation of wind power was undertaken by their " ethical man ".

Perhaps the same money spent on solar panels could have generated more of the pool's energy needs when it is needed, there is plenty of space to fit them on the roof.

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Martin, London says...
1:40pm Sat 23 Jun 07

Typical misinformation from the anti-wind brigade; 'All the evidence suggests' oh really - try reading this an independent review of wind power by imperial college london..citing over 200 refernces and peer reviewed. Ethical man was referring to roof top turbines in an urban environment

http://www.ukerc.ac.
uk/content/view/258/
852

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Gordon Pye, Ribble Valley says...
5:26pm Sat 23 Jun 07

Martin from London sounds like he has been brainwashed by the well organised wind farm lobby who tend to blanket the media with their pro wind farm propaganda. The average efficiency of a big scale wind turbine in England and Wales is just 25% ( top of Scotland 33% ) of what the wind lobby actually claim as maximum possible output. One solitary large wind turbine near the M25 can only manage 5% efficiency, anyone who has done model engineering must know that efficiency does not necessarily increase with size, so the efficiency of big turbines is in reality no better than that of a small one on a house.

It has been reported that anyone who dares to question the worth of wind farms gets hate mail and threats from people associated the wind farm lobby. Perhaps this is due to the huge subsidies they milk from the taxpayer, in addition to a 7% levy on your electric bill. In order to significantly reduce carbon emissions, perhaps this money would be far better spent building new nuclear power stations and using photo-voltaic solar panels to supplement the supply. Wind power is a failed technology of the long distant past, not cutting edge modern technology of the future. From experience if find that most universities produce reports in order to sell things to the public whether useful or not, it all depends on who their corporate sponsors are. I tend to trust professor Ian Fells from Newcastle university who gave the above efficiency figure in a BBC News24 report almost hidden one Saturday tea time when hardly anyone was likely to be watching.

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Ron Loebell, Clitheroe says...
8:42pm Sun 1 Jul 07

with comment about this wind turbine .. i live no more that 500 mtrs from where is will be installed. the RVBC did not inform any one that this was on the planning list,, over 40 local people who will be effected by the siting of this turbine are up in arms about it. Not one has had chance to comment on it.. the talk is that the local ombisman should be informed about mal-practice of the council.
quote

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Ron Loebell, clitheroe says...
8:54pm Sun 1 Jul 07

loacl residants in the Edisford and Low moor area of clitheroe are distgusted with their local councillors for the wards mentioned ..they knew on may 14 2007 about the wind turbine planning application and faile to inform the local electors about it. residants are so angry about it they are writing to the goverment to see what rules they may have broken to force them to resign from being councillors.

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phil, sabden says...
4:06pm Tue 3 Jul 07

I am pleased to see that RVBC are proposing to install a wind turbine at Edisford swimming pool and I wish people would stop being so backwards, and let the council look to the future, and start embracing new technologies.

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Ron Loebell, clitheroe says...
5:50pm Sat 21 Jul 07

phil wrote:
I am pleased to see that RVBC are proposing to install a wind turbine
at Edisford swimming pool and I wish people would stop being so
backwards, and let the council look to the future, and start embracing
new technologies.
well phil you live miles away from it all..no wonder you want it.
are you a conservative voter by any chance.
that would explain your narrow view on why we who live naer it do not want it.

ould of course have loads around sabden ..after all there is a lot of wind coming from that direction.

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phil, sabden says...
1:08pm Thu 16 Aug 07

Well Ron, it seems like your motives for arguing against the wind turbine are political and not for the environment! For your information I voted for BNP. My view is not narrow its more forward thinking than your small mind seems to be able to comprehend! We need sustainable technologies from sustainable sources! The two wind farms around Burnley are an amazing site. The goverment is asking for councils to take the approach of sustainable technologies, or have you not seen the countless number of advertisements on the telly asking everybody in the country to cut their CO2 emissions!

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Bob, Clitheroe says...
3:14pm Sat 25 Aug 07

Having just discovered this proposed development I am withdrawing an offer I have made to buy a house at that end of Edisford Road. I now see why it is so cheap

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