Views sought on future of wind turbines in Huntingdonshire

Huntingdonshire District Council has launched a consultation on wind energy and is inviting views from residents on how they think it should be managed and developed in the area.

Views will also be sought on areas of the district which could be suitable for development and how the council should approach planning applications for turbines.

The council has prepared a document - Huntingdonshire’s Local Plan to 2036: Wind Energy Development - which considers how planning proposals for wind turbine development should be handled, specifically the council’s options for whether and how to identify areas of Huntingdonshire as suitable for development.

The document sets out a number of options for the location of turbines which will form part of the consultation.

The options considered are:

1: Whole district is identified as suitable

2: Great Fen and its landscape and visual setting are not suitable

3: Landscape character areas above prominent/ conspicuous thresholds are not suitable

4: Whole district is not suitable

Additional Option A: Small turbines are suitable

Councillor Graham Bull, member for planning policy, housing and infrastructure, said: “Any wind turbine proposals put forward within any area would be subject to consideration of all planning impacts at the planning application stage. Impacts considered at the application stage will include those identified by local people who may be affected by the proposal.”

Cllr Bull stressed that no preferred option has been identified at this stage. The decision of which option to select as the preferred option will, according to the council, be taken after the consultation on the document, taking account of comments received.

The consultation will remain open until January 16 and anyone is welcome to comment via the consultations link on the front page of the Council’s website by the closing date.

The consultation can be found online at www.huntingdonshire.gov.uk.