County council set to adopt policy against large wind turbines on its land

Hampshire County Council is to consider whether to adopt a policy stating that it will not support large wind turbine or wind farm developments on land the authority owns.

The council’s Executive Member for Environment and Transport will next week (6 November) be asked to agree to the draft policy.

The decision report says: “Concerns have been expressed over the impact of large onshore wind turbines. Lincolnshire County Council produced a position statement on wind energy in June 2012.

“As a major landowner, it is considered appropriate for the county council to have a policy on wind farms and wind turbines on county council-owned land.”

If the draft policy is agreed, papers will go before Hampshire's Buildings, Land and Procurement Panel in December and the Executive Member for Policy and Resources in January 2013.

The paper before the Executive Member for Policy and Resources is set to recommend that Hampshire County Council “adopt a position statement which states that whilst the potential benefits of wind power in providing renewable clean energy are recognised, large wind turbines and wind farms would have an adverse impact on the special qualities and character of Hampshire’s landscapes.

“The county council considers that in Hampshire the benefits at present do not outweigh these adverse impacts and consequently does not support such developments on its rural landholdings.”

However, this paper also recognises that the county council is not the local planning authority for this type of development and has no responsibility for making planning policy in relation to wind turbines and wind farms, nor responsibility for deciding planning applications for wind turbines or wind farms.

In June, Lincolnshire beefed up its position statement on wind farms, saying it wanted to halt the “unrestrained invasion” of turbines across the region.

The authority planned to use the statement as the basis for responses to wind farm proposals it may be consulted upon.

It was also to be used as the authority’s response to district councils preparing development plan policies on such matters and as its position when discussing the issue at a national level.