Pannington Farm Wind Turbine.
The Planning Committee of Babergh District Council met last Wednesday morning to discuss the planning application for the above wind turbine. I am delighted to report that the Planning Committee unanimously voted to reject the application, it has been turned down!
The meeting lasted 2 hours and the parishes of Wherstead, Belstead, Pinewood, Woolvistone and Tattingstone were all able to voice their objections as well as SIT ( Stop Ipswich Turbines). Peter Burgoyne our District Councillor also spoke on our behalf. Wherstead were allocated 6 minutes as the parish in which the proposed turbine was to be built as did SIT who was the named objector. The other parishes, including PInewood were allowed to speak for 2 minutes each. The agent for the landowner and developer were allocated 6 minutes to support the application. The PfR representative could have also spoken for 6 minutes but chose only to say a brief sentence in support .The members of the Planning Committee then debated the proposal and the vote was taken.
It has taken us more than 2 years to reach this point. Members of the Joint Liaison Group, comprising representatives from SIT, Belstead and Pinewood Parish Councils with support from Wherstead Parish Council have been successful in mounting a very effective campaign to object to this totally inappropriate application to build a 130m wind turbine which would have dominated our neighbourhood and the surrounding countryside whilst at the same time not producing a great deal of electricity. It has taken much time and effort but we were congratulated at the hearing for the quality of our campaign.
PfR can appeal this decision, we hope that they will accept that our area is not an appropriate place for such an intrusive structure and not take it any further. If there is an appeal we will galvanise ourselves to continue the fight!