Overview of Otterham Proposal
The first application to build wind turbines at Otterham was made by a local landowner in December 1993. It was for 10 turbines, each 36m [117 ft] from base to blade tip height sited alongside the A39 near Otterham. The application was refused by the North Cornwall District Council in June 1994.
The main grounds for refusal were the site's proximity to the local Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty and the culmulative visual impact on the landscape which this and the existing sites at Cold North Cott and Delabole would create. There was no appeal on this decision.
The second application for this site was made by Powergen Renewables in May 2002, this time for 5 turbines, each 71 metres (233 ft) high. This was refused in January 2003 for the same reasons as the first. Powergen did not appeal.
The third proposal was made by Windelectric Management Ltd in June 2006. It was for precisely the same layout as the previous one. This would seem to demonstrate a profoundly cynical belief of the applicants that opposition can be worn down by repetitive applications and that the opinions and decisions of local residents and their elected Council can be safely ignored.
An area of Outstanding Natural Beauty should be protected from intrusions such as wind turbines. This site is only 100 metres from the edge of the AONB. If approval were given to this application it would set a precedent which would mean that every designated area, from national Parks downwards, would be open to invasion by these inefficient and obtrusive machines.
We already have two wind farms close to this proposed new development. The Cornwall Energy Study recommends a 7km buffer zone around existing wind farms.
See 
Appendix 3 - Figure 5 [1.7Mb]
The proposed Otterham Wind farm is just on the edge of the buffer zones of both the existing Delabole and Cold Northcott windfarms and would also be within the buffer zones of the proposed windfarms at Davidstow Moor and Hendraburnick.
On the map in the above Appendix 3 link it states:
"Please note that the landscape sensitivity study has been based on an assessment of wind energy turbines of 1.3MW in size with a hub height of 65m."
Objections can still be made to this scheme and will provide a very real contribution to the campaign against the spoiling of our landscape.
Urgent - please object to this application. Details of how to do this are here
