AN ECO-CONSCIOUS Christian community in Essex is hoping that a proposed change in the law will pave the way for a new wind turbine that it has long sought to install in place of an oil generator.
The Othona Community, in Bradwell-on-Sea, is more than a kilometre from the electricity grid. Connection to mains power would cost it more than £100,000, it says. The community has already spent £450,000 on decarbonising and upgrading its energy systems, and has fitted solar panels and battery storage. It already has a 5kW wind turbine.
Two years ago, after successfully securing a grant of £27,000, its application for a second, 25kW turbine was turned down by Maldon District Council on four grounds, including the potential visual effect, and the potential effect on a site of scientific interest (SSSI), which the community acknowledges to be a problem.
Richard Sanders, who is joint warden of the site with his wife, Debbie, said that care of the environment was “really important” to the community. “We would very much like to continue to be at the forefront of carbon reduction rather than trailing behind. The Church of England has plans to be carbon-neutral by 2030, but we can’t be carbon-neutral until we get this turbine.”
The community, which has been hosting summer camps and other activities on the Dengie Peninsula since 1946, would also like to have an electric-vehicle charging point; but this would mean greater use of the oil generator, which already costs £5000 a year. It has joined the National Farmers’ Union (NFU) in calling for a change in the law to enable farmers to put up a single turbine without reapplying for planning permission.
“Small wind turbines up to 30 metres high, with a capacity of 40kW to 50kW, are very popular with a lot of farmers,” the NFU’s chief adviser for renewable energy and climate change, Dr Jonathan Scurlock, said. “We think this fits well with the Government’s priorities for growth and decarbonisation. We need this streamlined planning measure to encourage farmers to invest in being more energy self-sufficient. . . We want to support the rural economy, and we want to decarbonise.”
Othona is pinning its hopes on the Onshore Wind Industry Taskforce, which — in an effort to make the UK a “clean-energy superpower” — is dedicated to radically increasing wind deployment by 2020. One of its aims is to “unlock the barriers to deployment that onshore wind developers face”, by identifying any financial, regulatory, or policy challenges preventing the efficient and cost-effective construction and operation of onshore wind projects.
A package of measures to support farmers and encourage the growth of the farming and food sector was announced by the previous government in May. The plan including ensuring the sector had access to affordable and sustainable energy and water, and cutting planning requirements to make it easier and quicker to build glasshouses. But the move came as the General Election was announced, and the consultation was delayed.