Success for wind farm protesters

The protesters celebrate their success

It has cost them £80,000, but wind farm protesters in Shropshire are celebrating success.

The campaign group, Vortex, was formed when plans for seven 340ft (105m) turbines were put forward in 2006.

Now a government planning inspector has turned down an appeal against refusal for the site near Norton-in-Hales.

In a statement, the company Nuon Renewables said it was disappointed because it regarded the design of the wind farm to be appropriate.

Previously, the firm said the turbines would produce enough energy to power 6,000 homes.

'Destroy landscape'

But Vortex claimed the scheme would destroy landscape between the villages of Woore and Norton-in-Hales.

In January 2008, they flew a large balloon to demonstrate the height of the turbines if the plan went ahead.

Newcastle-Under-Lyme borough councillors turned down an application for access to the site from the B5026 but, North Shropshire District Council planning officers, who received 2,000 letters of objection, recommended that the turbine plans should go ahead.

In September last year, councillors went against their officers' recommendation and refused the scheme. They said it was not in keeping with the local area.

Public inquiry

In May, a public inquiry into the building of the turbines on Poplar Lane began and lasted just over a month.

Graham Davey from Nuon told the hearing the firm believed the application was justified.

He said people should not be concerned about noise and the turbines would provide "good, green, renewable energy."

We've been through hell and back - we can get on with our lives basically now Steve Ellsmore of Vortex

A leading member of the protest group, Steve Ellsmore, said they were not opposed to wind farms in principle: "Basically wind farms should be on moors, out of the way of people."

On hearing the news he said: "We've been through hell and back. It's been such a thought on our minds for two years. We can get on with our lives now," he said.

Jane Ellsmore said the fight against the wind farm had taken it out of local people.

"We've all got full time jobs and we've had to take this on as extra.

"It's been very hard but we are absolutely thrilled with the result.

"It's cost £80,000 the community has had to raise - we could have done a lot of good locally on various projects, but it's had to go just to maintain the status quo and it's been hard fought," she said.

'Businesses affected'

Margaret and Terry Holdcroft own a stud farm close to the proposed site of the turbines.

Mrs Holdcroft said she had been devastated when she first heard of the application.

She said their business would have been badly affected and others would have been too: "It's people's jobs that could have been at stake... it's just a knock-on effect."

In a statement a spokesman for Nuon Renewables said the company was disappointed with the result of the appeal.

" (The company) has always felt that the proposed wind farm at Poplar Lane is of a design and scale appropriate to the location and would represent an important contribution for this area to the need for more renewable energy and reduced reliance on fossil fuels."

The spokesman added that the company was carefully considering the details and reasoning of the decision letter before making any further comment.