Maidstone Greens support wind turbine in East Farleigh

Good to see that we are supporting the plan for a community owned wind turbine in East Farleigh. The parish council is opposed to the plans on the basis of noise, visual impact, that they don't know if KCC/MBC has a policy on this, and that they can't see a benefit to the community (despite the £6k p.a. that the parish council would receive as its share of the energy income). I think the parish council are being quite NIMBY and need to research their facts and local policy before making statements such as this:

·         NOISE – there were concerns both about noise for those in the immediate vicinity and from a distance, particularly a constant droning. Fears were expressed about underground noise and its possible effects on health and wellbeing.

·         VISUAL IMPACT

·         SETTING A PRECEDENT – fears were expressed that more turbines might follow along the Greensand Ridge.

·         POLICY – does MBC or KCC have a policy in place for wind turbines?

·         NEED TO CALL THE PROPOSAL IN – the feeling was expressed that the turbine would be of no benefit to the community, so MBC or KCC should call it in and go through proper consultations and tests.

On the other hand... Maidstone Greens are supporting the plan to site a wind turbine at East Farleigh. In a letter to Maidstone Borough Council they state that the model of community ownership being proposed for the turbine and the need for more wind power out weighs any concern about noise and visual impact.

Stuart Jeffery, Maidstone Green Party: "We welcome this application, this type of locally owned renewable power generation is exactly what we should be doing across the country.

"The country is facing an energy crisis and while the government continues to back damaging and unsustainable fossil fuel sources, it is great to see ideas such as the Castle Farm turbine being proposed. Dist Gen and Castle Farm should be congratulated for their forward thinking."
See: http://distgen.co.uk/projects/castle-farm/