A 13TH-CENTURY listed church is under "serious threat" if plans
go ahead to build wind turbines in the Romney Marsh area of Kent,
campaigners say.
The Save Our Marsh - Block Rural Exploitation group are
protesting against proposals to build more wind turbines in Romney
Marsh, which, they say, will result in the area's becoming "an
industrialised wasteland".
The group said that St Augustine's, a 13th-century listed
church, would be "blighted" by plans by Ecotricity to build wind
turbines in the hamlet of Snave.
"Just a few hundred metres from the proposed site, the church
tower will stand in the shadow of the massive 125-metre
structures," the group said in a statement. "Despite already having
one of England's largest on-shore wind farms at Little Cheyne Court
. . . several [Romney] Marsh parishes are under renewed
consideration. . . Two schemes are in the planning stages, and a
60-hectare solar park, close to St Clement's at Old Romney, has
already been approved.
"A major fear is [that] if such expansion continues unchecked,
Romney Marsh will soon become an industrialised wasteland, with one
of the largest concentrations of on-shore turbines and solar farms
anywhere in the country."
Ecotricity said in a statement that Snave had been "identified
as an excellent site for wind energy, with enough resource to
provide clean green electricity to power the equivalent of 9800
homes a year. . .
"Environmental assessment for the development is ongoing, and
all potential impacts will be assessed thoroughly. It is expected
that an application will be submitted to Shepway District Council
in mid-2013."
