3:00pm Friday 27th January 2012
By Neil Docking
controversial plans for a 20metre-high wind turbine overlooking homes in Barnoldswick have been recommended for approval.
Mr and Mrs Michael Ashby, of Yarlside Farm in Bracewell, submitted an application for a 10kw turbine on top of a 15metre pole last month.
But residents in Horton Lodge say the development would blight their seven-house close near the A59.
And they are angry because the proposal was lodged after Pendle Council approved an earlier application for a 15m turbine next to the farmhouse – where they believe any negative impact would have been limited to the Ashby family themselves.
But the Ashbys said they had changed their plans based on planning guide-lines alone.
The family wants to install a new type of domestic turbine, further away from their home near Monk Bridge, to supply cheap electricity to their property and the national grid.
Horton Lodge Residents’ Association claimed it would endanger motorists, impact on the area’s natural beauty and harm wildlife.
The plans will go before the West Craven Area Committee next Tuesday evening at Salterforth Village Hall.
Ann Knowles-Foster, of Horton Lodge, said she and her husband would speak against the development.
She said: “Mr Ashby is moving this turbine from his back yard into ours. He won’t see it but we will.”
But Mrs Ashby said: “The reason the turbine has been moved isn’t because it’s too near our house, it’s because there was a tree there and because the people who are putting the turbine up, a different company from the one we first went to, felt it was too close to our other neighbour’s house across the road.”
Su Lawton, of Horton Lodge, said she was concerned about a ‘shadow flicker’ created by the turbine.
However, planning officers say both the new and old turbines were “of modest scale” and flicker or noise would not affect traffic, wildlife or homes.
The views would be at a distance of at least 200m.
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