DALE MULGREW OPPOSES WIND FARM PLANS AT REAPS MOSS

Thank you for the opportunity to present a submission to this inquiry - principally related to the Reaps Moss proposal of the planning application.

I see myself as very much being present here to give an account based on analysing the threat of this particular wind farm plan in the way it will affect the people and communities of Bacup.

This is not just through the explicitness of its direct glare and corresponding massive implications that will hang over the local community located at this the vicinity. Moreover, I believe there will be a wider exposure that will impact upon the whole town of Bacup. This is because, as a political party, we see implanting a wind farm at this location as running absolutely counter productively to the hopes and aspirations we have for this part of Rossendale, as it sits within the overall Valley region.

My particular overtures that will be voiced today as a politician, as you would expect, are directly linked to the potential human ramifications, and I will use two strands of an argument which I will present in the next ten minutes or so.

The first strand is to examine the affects - and what are seemingly ill conceived consequences at that - that the Reaps Moss proposal will have in terms of impact upon the local populace.

I will then aim to scrutinise why such a plan will derogate the work that my Party is involved with, which is aimed at coordinating an overriding strategy for regeneration of the towns of the Rossendale Valley, for which, of course, Bacup is a major population centre.

I think at this point it would be sensible for me as part of this deposition to preface the main part of my submission with an introductory positional statement.

As a person representing a certain brand of politics, I feel it would be wholly appropriate for me to comment that the pursuit of better energy sources and renewable technologies is one that I profoundly support. Wind turbines per se as a source of clean energy is one that environmental purists overall cannot object to.

However, we locally are not convinced that the locations for these wind turbines that are being chosen at present are the most suitable, nor are the most productive. We totally and unequivocally question the rationale behind erecting a wind turbine at Reaps Moss in comparison with a seascape location off the north east coast, where the howling winds of the North Sea would clearly bring more energy production from an area than would see generated at the one set before us. In fact, on average offshore wind turbines produce 23% more electricity than the equivalent onshore ones.

One as to also acknowledge that there is a governmental agenda behind this quest for wind generation through wind farms. They are incentivising the energy sector into shifting their supplies of energy into a low carbon world, via the fossil fuel levey and the renewable obligation certificates with the electricity bill payers of this country picking up the cost of subsidising renewable energy. I realise that every local authority now in this regard has to bear some pain. That is why we see applications being raised in many parts of the land, and many different inquiries being set up - similar to this one - to preside over the decision making process in respect of those applications.

One can deduct that there seems to be a magnitude of wind turbine that has to be planted in every authority so that the government can reach its all important and much vaunted target of 15% of energy from renewable sources by 2020.

As this inquiry is fully aware, we can safely say that the Rossendale Valley has already had its fair share of this pain in the form of the Scout Moor wind farm. There should be an equal and fair distribution of wind farm technology throughout the land, and it could be argued that by over subjecting the valley to even more wind farms, than the level of pain the valley would bear would be disproportionate and be increased to one of constant torture.

I move onto the local community who will, if this appeal is granted, see a direct impact onto their daily lives, and this is where I draw my attention to now. My intention here is to assert that there is a certain ill conception to some of the key aspects to this application, which I will illustrate here as a reason to suggest that not only are parts of this application unsound and riddled with gaps; it also thus casts doubt alas over the entire viability and rationality of this enterprise.

I begin through once more reiterating that the direct impact of the Reaps Moss site will be onto around thirty properties. We will tackle the visual amenity impairment in the latter part of this deposition, but what is more fundamental to the survival of these communities is their access to water, which could potentially be denied through a disturbance and contamination threat caused through this installation of wind turbines.

These properties rely on a water course which is sourced from a private supply within the local habitat.

I am aware of a hydrological assessment of this private water supply to this cluster of houses in 1999. This revealed in relation to a previous wind turbine proposal and I cite:

'it is possible that some or all of the private water supplies may be reduced or cease to reduce.'

In the light of such information, allied to knowledge of the local geography around the Reaps Moss location, you would feel the applicant would be aware that such an issue concerning water supply to homes would require a closer examination?

Moreover, you would trust that as an applicant they would be aware of the possible problems that could be caused through the erecting of a wind farm at this site. You would surmise that because of this the applicant would have performed a similar comprehensive environmental impact assessment to confirm the hydrological issues at this site. You would also be right in assuming that the applicant would have grappled with these matters and would have devised an alternative plan for water supply to these homes as befitting what is a fundamental human right. There can be no downgrading, or demoting of this as a significant issue.

Regrettably and somewhat mistakenly the applicant has not performed significant tests on the water course and the water supply. Furthermore, the applicant has ignored (neither commissioned any geological examination of the possible impact of the construction, nor on remove in brackets) the after effects of siting these wind turbines, on the supply of water to this cluster of houses.

If the applicant had I can assure the Inquiry that he would have realised that mitigating measures would be a requisite to any progression of his plans to ensure that any problems with the water supply can be fully dealt with.

In fact the applicant could have offered the residents an alternative plan for their water supply, possibly to connect to the main water service network, or for some remedial work to be delivered that would ensure a diversionary course was installed, so that the water supply would be protected.

Unfortunately, there is scant recognition of this in the proposal and I believe that as this is quite significant it calls into doubt the thoroughness and professionalism of the applicant's position on Reaps Moss. Additionally this also applies to the noise predictions which are based on flawed data.

It also questions the wisdom of the company in relation to their attempts to really work towards an ethical understanding with the local community. Furthermore, it also begs further scrutiny of other practices adopted by the applicant on the Reaps Moss location.

If they have not researched this properly, it really demonstrates a lack of ethical concern and doesn't give confidence that the application is fully aware of the extent that his plans will have on the local community.

Let me move on and the fearless Don Quixote once rode out in search of great adventure and wonderment in Cervantes classic novel. He was pulled up at one stage when someone suggested to him:

'Pray look better, Sir... those things yonder are no giants, but windmills.'

However, in the context of the Reaps Moss application, these windmills will be truly gigantic and will derogate greatly the visual amenity of the 30 properties who will find themselves to their great misfortune within a striking distance of 650 metres. I don't wish to spend too much time on the visual impairment as it does not require too much elaboration.

One though should make a distinction quickly between the height of the Scout moor wind farm, with wind turbines of a height of 100 metres, and the impact that this has already on the skyline of that part of the Rossendale Valley. The proposed height of the Reaps Moss turbines are in the region of 125 metres - a further largesse of one and quarter times the Scout Moor height and will magnify even further the distortion.

I think this is not just about a major visual implication for the close neighbours to this site, but there are also massive ramifications for the wider town. This is because a gloom will be cast over the town as these unattractive features will add nothing, but detract much from the picturesque tableau which forms the rural backdrop.

Actually Bacup Town Centre is within 1.5km, so the impact of the wind farm will be far and wide reaching, but I will return to this subject of the wider community later in this deposition.

Continuing on the impact to the specific location where this applicant intends to place the wide turbines at Reaps Moss: it is also deeply disturbing that one wind turbine is proposed for the green belt.

This clearly will be a deviation from Rossendale Council's unitary development plan, which forbids setting a precedence of such kind with a conversion of this precious green space into something to be given away for an irrevocable use. I question the applicant in this endeavour, and whether he realises that the Reaps Moss is a biological heritage site granted as such by Lancashire County Council and has a RIGGS status afforded to it.

We move onto the wider context for the town of Bacup and our opposition to this wind farm based on our ideologies around how we are going to regenerate and revitalise the Rossendale Valley.

As a political party we have not shirked our responsibility over the last year or so to come up with innovate and creative ways in which we can reinvigorate the Valley. After all, Rossendale is no different in its sufferance of the current economic doom and gloom than other boroughs, but it could be said the Valley has suffered such a downturn than far longer then this current recession? In fact, in Bacup maybe the recession kicked in a little earlier, possibly 1964 when Beeching closed a third of the rail network and Bacup lost its lifeline when the railway was abandoned.

Nonetheless, we still remain surprisingly upbeat and optimistic for a brighter and prosperous future for the towns of the Valley. We think that the Rossendale Valley has some wonderful natural assets in the rolling verdant green hills that encase the equally attractive diverse and distinctive centres of population, who are united in core values and beliefs.

We feel that Bacup as part of the Rossendale Valley is no different and we strongly believe that regeneration can only be started by creating a particular vision and then developing this as a unique selling point.

We would be elated if Bacup had a glut of industries that would move into the town immediately and create a boom situation. Unfortunately we reside in a world closer to reality and more plausible, and so we don't see any sector of commerce moving into the town in droves soon, due to the hindrance of poor transportation links.

In fact the recent trend is for some Rossendale companies to move away after many years of comfortable existence within the Valley. One example recently was a move nearer to the Manchester conurbation, so that they are nearer to major transport links and a significant hub. We don't think Bacup can rely on such an influx and so we have to think differently.

We think that tourism is a natural ally for Rossendale. This is because it can really utilise the dramatic hill-scapes and capture the welcoming friendly mood of the folks who live there. We can also really tap into the town centres, and promote their uniqueness steeped in history and heritage.

To emphasise this aim we do know for instance that Bacup has many listed heritage buildings, in fact more so than many other towns in the region and we should be really exploiting this.

We believe we should be converting Bacup into a unique tourism destination, concentrating on transforming the centre and really building it into the type of heritage town where we can attract visitors, whether they be the tourist who wants a day trip to explore the history, or a walker out on a expedition to sample the fine greenery abounding, or the discerning shopper looking for that taste of difference from the usual high street homogeneity.

This as a party is one of our main focuses, proven by our continuing efforts to push for this platform for change and regeneration, that we hope would bring prosperity and jobs.

To further our aims for tourism we even proposed recently that Rossendale Borough Council should apply for the special status of Rossendale being 'An area of outstanding natural beauty.' This standard would have truly reflected what Rossendale is all about, and although we were disappointed that Council could not feel they would support us on this, we are not deterred in us pushing this agenda further.

This brings us nicely to today's inquiry and we believe that by placing a ring of steel in this part of the Bacup townscape not only would disturb the visual impact, but would run a juggernaut through our vision of Bacup and with it trying to transform it.

We feel that with the town centre only 1.5km to the site of the wind farm that every vantage point from the main town centre area would have a glare of a wind turbine. We don't see this has being helpful in the Council trying to turn Bacup into a town which has the prospects of a heritage town and as a place of outstanding natural beauty, which would attract many different interest groups. We think that this application at Reaps Moss is not in the best interests of the people of Bacup, and certainly would destroy and obliterate many of what we are pushing for within Rossendale's future thinking.

If I may conclude then by quoting the French Philosopher Voltaire who suggests that it is:

'Dangerous to be right when the Government is wrong.'

I do hope that for this application everyone who is speaking up against it is determined to be right because of the many flaws in the plans that have been put forward by the applicant.

I only hope that in this instance the government is proved wrong in pushing the Reaps Moss site into being part of their renewal energy quest and that this appeal is refused.

This is so that Bacup can move on and concentrate on regeneration, and that the communities surrounding Reaps Moss do not have to cope with the inevitable destruction of their way of life, which this will inexorably bring.