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| The
Campaign for a 2 Kilometre Setback
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One of the
aims of NHWAG is to lobby for the UK to adopt
a 2K Setback (buffer zone) between turbines and
dwellings |
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A 2K Setback should be made UK policy immediately |
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All on shore windfarm plans should
be stopped until adequate reseach has been conducted |
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| Why
we need a 2 K Setback |
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Health |
Inadequate research
has been conducted in the UK |
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Noise |
Homes have been abandoned |
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Shadow Flicker |
Many parts of Appleton Wiske would
be affected |
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Vibration |
Many of our homes are very old
and built without foundations |
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Danger |
Projectile range of pieces of turbine
or ice throw could be over 800 metres |
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| E-petition
to No 10
Petitioning the PM to set up an independent working
party to explore the problems of wind turbine noise
and health as ETSU-R-97 is invalid |
E-petition to No
10
Petitioning the PM to stop
developing on shore wind farms. |
Write
letters and lobby
our MP, district and county councillors, ministers,
shadow minster's, MEPs etc
List
of Addresses |
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| EU
& UK Policy |
In the
UK we do not have the protection of a
2K buffer zone between turbines and houses.
In many countries in Europe there is.
In France President Sarkozy has said he
wants windfarms to be developed on brown
field sites. |
The current
UK guidance for establishing a safe distance
between turbines and dwellings is the
ETSU-R-97. Twelve years ago, when this
paper was produced, the turbines were
much smaller, only 25 or 30 metres tall..
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There are many anecdotal
stories from people who have had to move
and abandon their homes. Many of these
people lived further away from a turbine
than most of the houses in Appleton Wiske |
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| Noise
Experts Recommend |
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Sound experts Rick
James and George Kamperman recommend a minimum
1 km (3,280 ft) distance in rural areas |
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Simple Guidelines for Siting Wind Turbines to
Prevent Health Risks - Paper presented at
Institute of Noise Control Engineering (INCE)
NOISE-CON 2008, July 2008 - Kamperman, George;
and James, Rick |
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The How To Guide To Criteria For Siting Wind Turbines
To Prevent Health Risks From Sound - Kamperman,
George; and James, Rick |
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Research
- Books and Papers on Turbines and Health that
recommend a 2K buffer zone |
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| What
the Windfarm Developers and Turbine Manufacturers
Say : |
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| Turbine
Manufacturer Vestas Instruct their Workers to
Stay 400 metres from Turbines |
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The safety regulations for the
Vestas V90, with a 300 ft (92m) rotor span
and a total height of 410 ft (126 m), tell operators
and technicians to stay 1,300 ft (400 m) from
an operating turbine -- over 3 times its total
height -- unless absolutely necessary. |
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This is for safety and does not take
into account noise or shadow flicker |
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| E-ON
UK Renewables - Document "Turbines on Your
Land" |
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"A certain distance should be kept between
the location of every wind turbine and the nerest
dwellings. As a starting point we use a 750m buffer." |
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Read E-On
Renewables UK - Turbines On Your Land |
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This is not far enough but a lot further than
has been used by PRE for the proposed windfarm
at Ingram Grange |
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| Enertrag
UK ltd |
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Extract from Windfarm development in conjunction
with Enertrag UK ltd
"We have to ensure
that the proposed site has sufficient separation
from residences to allow a 700m parameter around
turbines, although this figure may vary slightly
due to other features, for example a location
near a busy road would require less separation
due to the already increased background noise." |
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Extract from Enertrag document "Proposed
Wind Farm at Ellands Farm, Hemington"
"Enertrag site all turbines at least 700 metres
from residential properties in order to minimise
any ocurrence of shadow flicker" |
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This is not far enough but a lot further than
has been used by PRE for the proposed windfarm
at Ingram Grange |
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| RES
- Renewable Energy Systems Ltd |
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Extract from "Wadlow Farm Wind Farm Alternative
Sites Selectio Report"
"Exclusion
areas around properties of between 550 - 800m
to refelct the likely separation required to meet
the industry standard noise emission limits. 800m
is now the normal best practice separation zone
used between turbines and houses by RES." |
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| German
Turbine Manufacturer Retexo-RISP Sit Planning
Recommendations |
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German manufacturer Retexo-RISP
suggest on their web site that "buildings,
particulary housing, should not be nearer than
2 km to the windfarm" |
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That was written when turbines were half the
size of today's models |
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| Related
Information |
The French
Academy of Medicine
March 2006, recommend a minimum of one mile (or
1.5 km, just under a mile) between giant wind
turbines and homes |
The UK
Noise Association
recommend a minimum of one mile (or 1.5 km, just
under a mile) between giant wind turbines and
homes |
In France, Marjolaine
Villey-Migraine
concluded that the minimum should be 5 km (3 miles |
Dr. Nina Pierpont, author of Wind
Turbine Syndrome
recommends
1.25 miles (2 km) |
The
Bolam Campaign
The paper by Barbara J. Frey BA, MA and Peter
J. Haddon, BSc, FRICS on the Effects of Wind Turbines
on Health recommends a buffer zone of 2 km between
turbines of up to 2 MW and homes. Provision for
this buffer zone is often ignored by those with
a vested interest in siting windfarms in close
proximity to homes. Many US states now insist
on this 2 km buffer. The Scottish Planning Policy
SPP6 (Renewable Energy) also indicates that a
2 km buffer zone is sensible. Yet NPower wish
to place the Bolam turbines only 400 m. from the
edge of the village - or 250 m. as shown on their
scoping plan. |
Scottish
Planning Policy SPP 6 Renewable Energy
Communities
Broad criteria should be used to set out the considerations
that developers should address in relation to
local communities. These should ensure that proposals
are not permitted if they would have a significant
long term detrimental impact on the amenity of
people living nearby. When considering spatial
policies, planning authorities may consider it
helpful to introduce zones around communities
as a means of guiding developments to broad areas
of search where visual impacts are likely to be
less of a constraint. PAN 45 confirms that development
up to 2 km is likely to be a prominent feature
in an open landscape. The Scottish Ministers would
support this as a separation distance between
turbines and the edge of cities, towns and villages
so long as policies recognise that this approach
is being adopted solely as a mechanism for steering
proposals to broad areas of search and, within
this distance, proposals will continue to be judged
on a case-by-case basis. |
Kirby
Mountain, US
Blogspot of The Need for a Setback
A one page summary of why we need a 2km setback.
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Pugwash Windfarm
Summerside, PEI council delays vote on wind farm
zoning
Spokesperson, Keith Tanton asked Council to consider
that they consider the setback used by countries
with a long history of wind energy that have increased
their setbacks away from residences. He cited
that Germany, a country with a high population
density and with the world's greatest number of
turbines, has setbacks of 1.6km. |
The harmful effects of sound related to wind
turbines are insufficiently assessed, warns the
National Academy of Medicine in France
The report "Repercussions of wind turbine operations
on human health" by Dr. Chantal Gueniot in "Panorama
du Médecin," 20 March 2006.
- "complain of functional disturbances similar
to those observed in syndromes of chronic sound
trauma"
- "that chronic invasive sound involves neurobiological
reactions associated with an increased frequency
of hypertension and cardiovascular illness"
- "the sounds emitted being low frequency,
constitute a permanent risk for the people exposed
to them"
- "While waiting for precise studies of the risks
connected with these installations, the Academy
recommend halting wind turbine construction closer
than 1.5 km from residences" |
The
Matlock Moor Campaign
Health
There is a great amount of evidence of ill health
problems associated with wind farms when they
are sited too close to homes. Problems reported
have been anxiety, emotional stress, nervous complaints,
nausea, headaches, instability, argumentativeness,
changes in mood and other more general psychiatric
categories like, neurosis, psychosis and hysteria
have all been well researched and documented.
(Berglund and Lindvall, researched 1995). Despite
much overwhelming evidence to the contrary, the
wind farm industry deny there are any health problems
associated with living close to wind turbines.
The evidence speaks for itself, people are having
to leave their homes to try to regain their health.
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The
Matlock Moor Campaign
Turbines
too close to properties.
The proposed turbines are to be sited too close
to our properties. The current recommendations
throughout Europe state that there should be a
2km buffer zone between properties and turbines.
Some counties in some states of USA require all
wind farm planning applications to observe a 2
mile buffer zone. New wind farms in Denmark have
to be sited at sea. Most informed qualified opinion
in Britain is recommending a minimum buffer zone
of 1¼ miles or 2,000 metres. Efforts are
being made to update the present legislation in
the UK to bring this 1¼ mile buffer zone
recommendation into being. Many houses around
this present proposed wind farm are well within
this 1¼ mile buffer zone and the occupants
are likely to be affected by noise pollution and
strobing. Some properties are only ½ mile
away from the proposed turbines, others are even
closer.
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Scottish
Planning Policy SPP 6 Renewable Energy
Buffer zone
Planning authorities should not impose additional
zones of protection around areas designated for
their landscape or ecological value including
sites of national and international importance.
However, the potential impact of proposals on
such areas may be a material consideration to
be taken into account when determining planning
applications. Where there are potential significant
effects on a Natura 2000 site the competent authority
will require to undertake an appropriate assessment
under the Habitats Regulations. |
National
Review Online
Pierpont's findings suggest that low-frequency
noise and vibration generated by wind machines
can have an effect on the inner ear, triggering
headaches; difficulty sleeping; tinnitus, or ringing
in the ears; learning and mood disorders; panic
attacks; irritability; disruption of equilibrium,
concentration and memory; and childhood behavior
problems. . . . Her research says wind turbines
should never be built closer than two miles from
homes. . . . Concerns also are coming out of Europe
about low-frequency noise from newly built wind
turbines. For example, British physician Amanda
Harry, in a February 2007 article titled Wind
Turbines, Noise and Health, wrote of 39 people,
including residents of New Zealand and Australia,
who suffered from the sounds emitted by wind turbines.
According to Pierpont, eight of the 10 families
in her study moved out of their homes. . . .Pierpont’s
research suggests “everyone with pre-existing
migraines” developed headaches by living
near the wind. |
From the RETEXO-RISP GmbH web site page
on Windfarm Site Location
Important Factors when planning a Wind Farm
The location under consideration should first
of all be wind - intensive during the whole year.
Usually this is guaranteed on coastal sites, on
open land without forests or high hills within
a range of about 15 km and, of course, on hill
tops.
Buildings, particulary housing, should not be
nearer than 2 km to the windfarm. |
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