Please click here for the full story reported in the Scunthorpe Telegraph

RidgeWind are delighted to announce North Lincolnshire students Niall Jeffrey and Alistair Godley as worthy recipients of the Bagmoor Wind Farm Scholarships for the 2011/2012 academic year.

Two £1000 awards were available to students in the area around Bagmoor Wind Farm, with plans to continue further studies or training in science, environment or engineering disciplines. This years’ successful applicants Niall and Alistair both completed their studies at the John Leggott College in Scunthorpe last summer and are now both in the first year of university studying for a degree in physics.

Everyone at RidgeWind would like to congratulate Alistair and Niall and wish them every success in their studies.

Planning permission has been granted by the Planning Inspectorate for Middlewick Wind Farm following a public inquiry held in March 2011.

RidgeWind began developing the Middlewick Wind Farm on the Dengie Peninsula in 2004. The project earned a recommendation for approval by the local planning authority in 2010 following successful completion of comprehensive analysis including ecological, acoustic, and transportation studies.  Middlewick Wind Farm was rejected by the local council in 2010.  The decision was appealed by RidgeWind.

RidgeWind now look forward to bringing the wind farm into operation and making a positive contribution both in terms of renewable energy and local funds for students and communities.

THE COUNTY’S business people have stepped into the controversy surrounding the Middlewick wind farm – and given the project their backing.

The Essex Chambers of Commerce is urging Maldon District Council to give the proposed wind farm the go-ahead and claims that millions of pounds could be lost to the economy if it is not given the green light.

Developer RidgeWind has submitted a planning application for nine turbines to be installed at a site approximately 3km east of Southminster for 25 years only.

Essex Chambers of Commerce Managing Director Denise Rossiter said: “After closely examining the application, we have given it our full backing due to the vast economic, community and environmental benefits we believe the project will bring to the area. It has been estimated that £5 million will come into the local economy during the nine months it will take to build the wind farm. The construction and hospitality industries particularly stand to benefit.

“The developers are keen to use as many local suppliers as possible – therefore the gravel, concrete and so on, will all come from Essex firms. The contractors will need places to stay, eat and be entertained whilst the construction takes place.”

There will also be direct investment into the local community from RidgeWind.

“Local people will really feel the benefit of the wind farm as RidgeWind contributes funds from its own coffers into Community Benefit Schemes.

“Based on their proposal for nine turbines, then the Middlewick fund is going to be around £54,000 per year for the 25 years of the wind farm.”

She added, “The Essex Chambers of Commerce will do all they can to help the Middlewick windfarm get the green light.”

Source: Essex Chronicle, Wed 2^nd June 2010

Saint FM, Maldon District’s Community Radio Station, is hosting a debate about the proposed Middlewick Wind Farm on Monday 14 June 2010 at 7.30pm. Audience spaces available.

It will take place in the Drama Studio at St Peter’s High School, Southminster Road, Burnham-on-Crouch.

As you are most likely aware, RidgeWind is hoping to construct a wind farm on the Dengie Peninsula, 3km east of Southminster.

Representatives of both RidgeWind and anti-windfarm group SIEGE will be on the panel for this hour long debate. It will take place in front of a live studio audience, who will also be asking questions.

As you are part of the Committee which will be making the decision on this planning application, we would like to invite you to be part of the studio audience. We rould really encourage anyone supportive of the project to attend and show the decision makers there are local people willing to be brave and speak in favour of the project to help balance the argument against the anti-minority.

Please RSVP to Saint FM on 01621 787829 / sandra.martin@saintfm.org.uk if you would like to attend, as places are limited.

If you are unable to make it, the debate is being recorded and will be played out St FM 94.7 at various times during the week, for details and times please check the Saint FM website www.saintfm.org.uk

Describing a Scottish Government decision as ‘fundamentally flawed’, the Court of Session in Edinburgh on 19th March overturned its rejection of a planning application for a windfarm at Stacain, near Inveraray.

The application for 14 turbines to generate 28MW was submitted in partnership by renewable energy developers Ridgewind and Wind Prospect. Argyll and Bute Council approved it in December 2007 but in the following March the application was called in by the Scottish Government. The reason given for this was the need to consider issues raised by Scottish Natural Heritage during a Public Inquiry held in Inveraray.

The Scottish Government then overturned the Council Planning Team’s approval and rejected the application.

The rejection was justified under a European precedent known as the Basses Corbiere judgment, related to the protection of wildlife habitats. In this case it was said of the the area proposed for the Stacain windfarm that it might, one day, fall within a Special Protection Area (SPA) for Golden Eagles.

During the Court of Session hearing, the Scottish Government threw in the towel, admitting that it had failed to take new information into account, showing that effects on eagles had been over-estimated.

Consequently, the Court of Session quashed the Government’s decision.

There have been initial responses from both sides of this outcome.

The applicants were glad of the positive signal the decision sends to the industry but angry at the commercially unrealistic length of the planning process involved in the course of this project to date.

They noted that Stacain went into the planning process in 2005 and that, five years later, there is still no outcome.

Yesterday (22nd March) a Scottish Government spokesperson said that it had conceded the case on the basis of new evidence that was not available for the original enquiry.

It is likely that a public inquiry will be reopened but the spokesperson indicated that this could not yet be confirmed. The Government is taking stock.

Five years has gone by already. The Scottish government has rightly – necessarily – pinned its colours to the standard of renewable energy. The Government’s decision-taking in rejecting the application was said to have been ‘fundamentally flawed’.

All of this is damaging for the Government. It raises some uncomfortable questions which we are pursuing through a range of sources and will report on when we can.

Doing anything other than accepting defeat and letting the Stacain project go ahead at once, could achieve nothing other than compound the confidence already shaken, weaken the commitment of the industry and make the Government look like a sore loser.

Source: forargyll.com

The Middlewick Windfarm has been submitted and was registered mid-January. The council will take some time to consult with various statutory and non-statutory bodies and we expect a decision to be made sometime summer 2010.

If you would like to support the Middlewick project please write to:

Chris Purvis – Senior Planning Officer
Maldon District Council
Princes Road
Maldon
Essex
CM9 5DL

Application Reference: Middlewick wind farm FUL/MAL/10/00004

VILLAGERS living in the shadow of North Lincolnshire’s biggest wind farm are full of praise for their eco-friendly neighbour six weeks after the development opened. Despite towering over Dragonby at 125m tall with 45m turbine blades mounted on 80m high towers, residents said the structures have blended into the village scenery. And they also say the turbines are whisper quiet – even though they have been turning constantly since being switched on in September

Norman Stranaghan, 70, of High Street, Bagmoor, said “I actually find the view quite pleasant. It’s almost artistic and doesn’t bother me in the slightest. I haven’t heard any noise coming from the turbines whatsoever. The blades have been turning almost constantly and if you closed your eyes, you wouldn’t even know they were there. It’s definitely better than having a nuclear power station or something like that outside your door”. Last month, RidgeWind, the firm behind the site, offered all 48 households in Dragonby £250 towards their electricity bills, with the promise of matching next year if residents sign up for green energy tariffs. Primrose Coles, 76, of High Street, Bagmoor, said “I’ve heard one person in the village complain that they are disturbed by the noise of the turbines, but I can’t hear a thing and neither can any of my neighbours”. “It’s become just another part of the village now. People have accepted it very quickly, although I think the cheque for £250 will have helped’. For the complete story please view here.

Source: Scunthorpe Telegraph