Letters / Separation distances
Your article (Viking Energy health impact report welcomed; SN 1/08/13) on Sarah Taylor’s report on the health impacts of wind farms states:
“Such problems [as blades flying off, and shadow flicker] can be mitigated by following government guidelines to set turbines at least two kilometres from properties and by ensuring communities are consulted properly ahead of wind farms being built, she says.”
What she actually writes, in the section on mitigation, is:
“A number of reviews and Expert Panels on the health impacts of wind farms refer to national setback limits and operational guidelines governing or advising on wind turbines and how to mitigate adverse impacts. A number of countries including Scotland are now setting setback limits of 2 km to reduce risks, though these are mostly guidelines for best practice rather than legal requirements….
“A number of publications conclude that wind turbines affect health at distances currently permitted under national guidelines and include recommendations for review of guidance on specific effects associated with the impacts of noise from wind farms. Technical UK guidance on noise limits recognises that the current guidance does not take account of the distinguishing characteristics of wind turbines (higher levels of modulation), that have given rise to complaints. Some researchers ask for more specific mitigations for instance on setback distances of >2km in hilly terrain.” [My italics]
It is important to note that Dr. Taylor is not expressing an opinion on the efficacy of these mitigations here, but merely reviewing current literature.
Perhaps more importantly, the Scottish government guidance for a 2 km separation distance between wind farms and residences is aimed at local authorities, not developers, and is currently as follows:
“A separation distance of up to 2 km between areas of search and the edge of cities, towns and villages is recommended to guide developments to the most appropriate sites and to reduce visual impact, but decisions on individual developments should take into account specific local circumstances and geography.”
This replaced Scottish Planning Policy (SPP) 6, which was in force up to 2010, and stated:
“PAN [Planning Advice Note] 45 confirms that development up to 2 km is likely to be a prominent feature in an open landscape. The Scottish Ministers would support this as a separation distance between turbines and the edge of cities, towns and villages so long as policies recognise that this approach is being adopted solely as a mechanism for steering proposals to broad areas of search and, within this distance, proposals will continue to be judged on a case-by-case basis.”
Viking Energy has previously argued that there was no statutory obligation to adhere to this 2 km separation distance, and that is strictly correct.
For Aaron Priest, however, to state that: “As with all wind farm developments, the previously well-documented concerns regarding noise and shadow flicker have already been fully addressed in the careful design of the Viking wind farm,” beggars belief, and is in contradiction to Dr Taylor’s final opinion in her summary that “current mitigations do not entirely deal with the annoyance caused by wind farms, the results of which are a cause of distress and related ill health for a number of people living in the vicinity.”
There are, I believe, over 70 of the proposed Viking wind farm turbines within 2 km of occupied households.
James Mackenzie
The Lea
Tresta
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