Little Waver

= 14th February 2014 =

As the Little Waver scheme was taken over by REG, please see the High Pow 2 page for further information.

= Name change =

This wind farm was formerly known as Percy Hill and has now been officially changed to Little Waver by the developer. Percy Hill farm has nothing to do with the proposal.

= Campaign progress =

10th February 2013

REG have finally submitted a request for a scoping opinion with the intention of extending High Pow Wind Farm. We have been expecting this since it was announced last year that REG had purchased Your Energy’s interest in the Little Waver site which is adjacent to the existing wind farm at High Pow. The submission of a scoping request is simply a means of asking the Council exactly what information will be required in the full application. It would appear that the application, when it does arrive, will be for up to seven turbines in addition to the existing three. So there can be no question that this would be a major development. If you would like to view the scoping request, please follow this link:

http://planning.allerdale.gov.uk/portal/servlets/ApplicationSearchServlet?PKID=102761

Comments can be submitted even at this early stage and we are currently in the process of preparing a response from FORCE as an organisation. We welcome individual comments too but it is fine if you prefer to wait until the full application arrives. At that stage, we will be encouraging every member to object to the extension of this wind farm which is already bringing misery to its neighbours!

19th June 2012

Your Energy have sold their interest in the Little Waver Wind Farm project to REG, the operator of the neighbouring wind farm at High Pow. This is unlikely to make much difference to the total number of turbines we will be fighting but local campaigners will perhaps feel some relief that they will now only be up against one major developer instead of two at the same time! We are awaiting REG's announcement of public exhibition dates when their plans will be unveiled. Presumably, rather than a separate Little Waver Wind Farm, we are now looking at a larger extension to High Pow than was originally planned.

31st January 2012

Still no news as to when then next public exhibitions will be.

29th November 2011

Stop press! There has been yet another application geographically very close by to this one! Please go to page entitled Lane Head for further details and to view the application.

16th November 2011

The anemometry mast which marks the site of the proposed Little Waver Wind Farm is 70m tall. It is not difficult to grasp the scale of the proposed development if one imagines eight turbines which will, at 110m, be 40m taller than the mast!

So far as we are able to ascertain, Your Energy have not yet carried out any baseline noise monitoring work although we know that this is due to begin now that the mast is in place. Other studies by Your Energy, including visual, landscape and ecological impact assessments, are scheduled to continue into next year and so the wind farm application itself is now expected at some time between April and June. A second series of public information days will be arranged by Your Energy in March or April 2012. Cumbria Wind Watch will be kept fully updated as to any changes to this predicted timescale,

26th October 2011

The anemometer is now up! We expect to learn more about Your Energy's planned agenda at the next meeting of Boltons Parish Council which takes place at 7.30pm on Tuesday 8th November. Parishioners and Press all welcome!

13th August 2011

Last Tuesday at a meeting of the Development Panel Allerdale Borough Council approved Your Energy's application for an anemometer at the proposed Little Waver windfarm site. Three objectors and the Chairman of Boltons Parish Council each spoke for five minutes. The managing director of Your Energy, Richard Mardon, was allowed twenty minutes to explain the applicant's case. He did not perform well. The decision was reached after lengthy questioning and discussion during which it emerged that councillors were unwilling to approve but felt their hands were tied because the Planning Inspectorate keeps overturning their refusals. Indeed, within the last couple of weeks, the Inspector has reversed Allerdale's decision to refuse the anemometer mast proposed at Reathwaite Farm in Rosley and has also awarded costs to the developer in that case! In spite of the objectors urging councillors to stand their ground and not succumb to coercive pressure from the Planning Inspectorate, 6 voted to approve the application, 4 to refuse and 3 abstained. Two councillors from Wigton whose votes may have influenced the result were not at the meeting!

We now await the application for the turbines themselves which is expected in November or December of this year. Of course, that will be a different battle entirely and the opposition group and local petitioners (now almost 200 strong) will be continuing their campaign.

http://www.newsandstar.co.uk/news/protestors-pledge-to-fight-on-after-cumbrian-council-approves-windmast-1.866426?referrerPath=news

One of our worries is the imminent change to planning policy which will make our battle against inappropriate wind farm development even harder. PPS22 was bad enough but it looks as if it is going to be replaced with something even worse. Cumbria, outside of the Lake District, is definitely going to be within the developers' sights.

http://www.decc.gov.uk/en/content/cms/meeting_energy/consents_planning/nps_en_infra/nps_en_infra.aspx

Let's all work together on this, publicise the scandal of what is happening here in Cumbria as much as we can and fight off these profiteering despots!

27 July 2011

Allerdale Borough Council will consider the application for an anemometer (or met mast) at the proposed Little Waver windfarm site at the next meeting of the Development Panel which will take place at

The Wave, Maryport on Tuesday 9th August at 1pm.

Although quite a formal occasion, the meeting of the Development Panel is open to the public so any of us who can attend are free to do so. A large supportive audience will be most helpful and will indicate to councillors the strength of feeling about this part of Cumbria.

On Tuesday 12th and Wednesday 13th July the developer of this site, Your Energy, held a public exhibition in Bolton Low Houses Parish Hall. Outside the hall 115 signatures were collected over the two days. The petition, opposing the construction of further turbines in the vicinity of High Pow wind farm where there are already 3, was presented to a well attended meeting of Boltons Parish Council on Tuesday evening (there were 71 signatures at that time). The councillors voted overwhelmingly to oppose the current application by Your Energy for an anemometry mast on the site -

http://planning.allerdale.gov.uk/portal/servlets/ApplicationSearchServlet?PKID=86545

As there are fewer than 100 households in Bolton Low Houses we feel that this number of signatures is a good indication of the strength of public opposition to further development of this kind. An action group is in the process of being formed and we will continue to update this page as the situation progresses.

The News and Star article and editorial about the development and opposition to it can be found at:

http://www.newsandstar.co.uk/news/objections-to-planned-north-cumbria-windfarm-1.857385?referrerPath=home

http://www.newsandstar.co.uk/opinion/our-view/an-ill-wind-is-now-blowing-1.857395?referrerPath=opinion

Your Energy's website for the development is at:

http://www.littlewaverwindfarm.com/

Location 54.773664279214, -3.1912708282471

If you would like any further information please contact Marion at [mailto:marion.fitzgerald@ymail.com marion.fitzgerald@ymail.com]