Weston Hills Wind Turbines - Graveley Airfield / Luton CTR

[LowNSlow]

Luton Council has received an application to build three wind turbines 2 nm South East of Baldock on the edge of the Luton CTR. The turbines will rise to 950' AMSL. Due to their location they will effectively close Graveley Airfield as the only access route to it is at 1,000' AMSL via a route between the surrounding towns and the turbines will be slap bang in the middle of it.

The application states that the surrounding airfields (Graveley, Rush Green and, I would assume, Luton Airport) have been consulted and have no objection to the turbines. None of the people who are based at Rush Green, or to the best of my knowledge the owner, have been consulted in any shape or form as we certainly WOULD have objected.

For more details have a look here:weston hill (http://www.lightaircraftassociation.co.uk/Consultation/New%20Pages%20Aug%2008/westonhills.html)

As the LAA links says, numbers count. If you are a user of this busy bit of airspace or are simply against having such large and dangerous obstructions near airfields that have been in use for 20+ years, please voice your displeasure to the council.

[chevvron]

Are there not a couple of private strips near Baldock which will be affected too? (Clothall Common and one other whose name I don't know - it's about 1/2 mile east of Baldock)

[Dark Helmet]

I have just filed my objection. It is very easy to do using their on-line form.

[LowNSlow]

chevvron, I am not sure. I would assume that if they are operating on the 28 day rule (i don't know if this is the case or not) then the Council has no obligation to consult them.

Dark Helmet, ta for the support :ok:

[chevvron]

Sorry Clothall Common is the one east of Baldock (just looked on flashearth), the other one is at Bygrave about a mile north east of Baldock.

[LowNSlow]

Clothall Common will be within about 0.5m of the darn things. Not very comfortable I wouldn't think....

Looking at the Virtual Earth also places these obstructions within about 4m of the approach to Luton's 26. Does anybody know what the CAA recommendations/regulations are regarding the height of structures adjacent to an ILS?

[chevvron]

If there's been no objection by Luton, I would assume they are below the protected ILS underslope as it's a precision approach ie with electronic gliepath info, but it would almost certainly have an impact on non - precision approaches to 26 ie SRA, LLZ/DME and NDB.

[rusty sparrow]

They're very visible - so it's easy for the gov to show how green they are - but, how long does it take to recover the energy costs of building and installling them. They look awful anyway - switching off a lights in office blocks at night would save a lot of energy.

[Jaun Huw Nose]

They are also trying to put 3 turbines next to Benington airstrip,(due east of Stevenage) this means potentially two sets of turbines in the lane between LTN and STN.
There is also the thought that this could just be the start if they succeed, let alone ruining some of Hertfordshire's best countryside

Stop Benington Wind Farm (http://www.stopbeningtonwindfarm.co.uk/)

[chevvron]

On the same subject, 5 more proposed south west of Reading close to Theale and/or Hopkiln Farm strips.

[LowNSlow]

Juan Huge Nose, from the website I get the impression that it is the Bott family (owners of Benington Airfiedl) that are asking for planning permission to put the darn things up. Is this the case?

chevvron, they are spreading like a blight on the countryside.

Does anybody have the numbers regarding manufacturing cost, installation cost vs output and payback time?

[aviate1138]

The other day the Reading M4 wind turbine was turning and yet all the local chimney outputs were steaming vertically. Does this mean they have to Use electricity to keep the blades moving [thereby inferring it is always producing electrical power?] or am I just Not in awe of a system that costs more per kilowatt/hour to run than any other type of generator, needs huge amounts of concrete/steel and kills migrating birds and endangered species of bats. The only reason they are built is because of the massive Green subsidies from Government and EU sources. And the Greenie hype about non existent man made global warming/climate change.

At least Mr Fox gets regular blade kill deposits! :rolleyes:

[Jaun Huw Nose]

LowNslow, you are correct.