Wind turbines approved despite Newcastle Airport objection
30.5.2008 (UK Airport News)
turbines on the Northumberland coastline – despite fears that the structures pose
a potential risk to aircraft safety. Wansbeck Council has taken expert legal advice
which has concluded that it does not need to reconsider the application to erect
the giant turbines along Blyth Harbour.
new and more powerful turbines, six of which would be 125m high and the seventh
the biggest land-based turbine in Europe at 163m.
despite a formal objection from Newcastle Airport, which says that the turbines will cause interference on air traffic control
radar screens and pose a potential threat to flight safety. The airport also claims
it might have to create an exclusion zone around the wind farm and reroute incoming
and outbound flights by five nautical miles.
Authority, which has subsequently supported fears that the height of the turbines
would have an impact on operations at the airport. Now council officials have
taken legal advice and next month will recommend the planning committee confirm
its backing for the turbines, saying there are no grounds for changing the original
decision.
to confirm planning approval or agree to the airport’s request for the application
to be called in by the Secretary of State and a public inquiry held to examine
the air safety concerns.
were recommending that the application should not be reconsidered. He said: ‘Our
request that the Secretary of State should call in this application and hold a
public inquiry still stands and will be re-stated.’
posted: April 25, 2008 •
Safety watchdog backs objections to turbines
National air safety watchdogs have given their backing to serious concerns raised
by Newcastle Airport over plans to erect seven huge wind turbines on the Northumberland
coastline.
The Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) says it supports arguments put forward by
airport bosses that the new windmills proposed at Blyth Harbour will have an impact
on operations at the airport.
The CAA, the UK’s national aviation regulator, has also made suggestions about
action which could be taken to tackle potential problems, including reducing the
height of the turbines.
The CAA made its views known after being belatedly consulted by Wansbeck District
Council, which three months ago resolved to approve Hainsford Energy’s application
to erect the windmills.
Councillors took the decision despite a formal objection from the airport to
the height of the turbines, six of which would be 125m high and the seventh the
tallest land-based turbine in Europe at 163m.
Airport officials say the giant structures could cause interference on air traffic
control radar screens and pose a potential threat to flight safety. They also
claim they might have to create an exclusion zone around the wind farm and re-route
incoming and outbound flights by at least five nautical miles.
Wansbeck councillors agreed to approve the wind farm in January, but it later
emerged that under national planning rules the council should have first sought
the opinion of the CAA because of the airport’s safety objections.
Yesterday a CAA spokesman said: "We have now responded to the council and said
we agree with Newcastle Airport in many of its arguments that these turbines will
have an impact on operations at the airport."
Wansbeck Council’s regulatory committee could now be asked to reconsider the
application in the light of the CAA’s response.
The Journal
24 April 2008