Hyndburn residents complain as ‘turbines disrupt TV signal’ (From Lancashire Telegraph)

Hyndburn residents complain as ‘turbines disrupt TV signal’

4:30pm Friday 16th November 2012 in News By Emma Cruces, Reporter

TV RECEPTION to homes in Baxenden is being disrupted by a nearby wind farm, according to Hyndburn’s MP.

Graham Jones said he has had 20 complaints within three days from people living in the rural part of the town, between Sandy Lane to the top of Baxenden.

He believes the switching on of 12 wind turbines on Oswaldtwistle Moor, by en-ergy firm EnergieKontor UK Ltd, has caused the problem.

The firm has now app-ointed a local aerial comp-any to investigate the comp- laints.

Mr Jones said: “The turb-ines have only recently been installed and were only switched on last week.

“The residents are telling me their screens pixelate and are unwatchable when the blades are rotating, and the severity of the problem depends on how fast the blades are going, and which direction the turbine is facing.

“The wind farm is in the direct line of Winter Hill and Baxenden, so that’s why this is happening. At first I thought it might be the roll-out of the 4G mobile phone broadband network, but the council assures me there have been no mast upgrades from 3G to 4G so far.

“So I have contacted Ener- gieKontor and the borough council and both tell me that they are investigating.

“If they are found to be reponsible for this, then I feel they should come forward with a solution for those people affected, who have paid a licence fee.”

A spokesman for Hynd-burn Council confirmed that, as part of planning perm-ission for the wind farm, EnergieKontor have a duty to investigate complaints within a five kilometre radius of the site.

He said: “The company has 28 days to investigate each complaint, and then a further 10 days to issue their findings to the proper- ties affected and to the local planning authority.

“The report shall set out whether the impairment of television reception is dir-ectly attributable to the development, and if remed- ial works are required to restore the quality of telev-ision reception.

“If remedial works are required, they shall be undertaken by EnergieK ontor, at its own cost, using all reasonable endeavours and completed as soon as reasonably practicable.”

A spokesman for Ener-gieKontor said: “We have an engineer looking into the issue but, at the moment, it’s still not clear whether it’s the blades causing the problem, or 4G affecting Winter Hill.”

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