Our trip to wind farm alley

Having dragged the kids round delivering Re-volt leaflets on Saturday what better way to spend Sunday than driving to Peterborough to visit wind turbines!

A potted history of Re-volt

When we first learnt about the wind turbine proposal we did have a knee jerk reaction. It went along the lines of, “What a great idea, we’re a fairly green / eco-conscious family, why would we mind?”. A few days later feeling bored I googled ‘wind turbines’ and that’s when the worry set in, my zero knowledge (other than they were quite big, white and turned around) soared, and not in the way that I had expected. Things like noise, effects on health, shadow flicker, declining property values and disturbed sleep came at me thick and fast. With our new knowledge we went to the STW exhibition at the beginning of September. Our fears and concerns were pretty much dismissed by the STW people. We therefore had two conflicting views. Which view was most convincing? The people whose lives had been affected by the turbines, either mildly or catastrophically plus the mounting body of scientific evidence against them being situated close to homes or the people from Severn Trent? I think you know the answer because Re-volt was born.

Our day out

Having viewed Godfrey Bloom’s map of wind turbines locations wind turbine map we decided to head to Peterborough and visit two wind farms, one to the west of Whittlesey at the McCains factory and the other at Pondersbridge. (Godfrey Bloom is a UKIP MEP. He has some very firm view on wind turbines, have a look at his views here.)

First sightings of the turbines

It was only mummy and daddy playing the ‘who can see them first’ game and I won! We spotted them whilst we were still on the A1 and they looked massive. I put the map down and thought this’ll be a doddle. We left the A1 and that’s when we realised that Peterborough is surrounded by the things. Which was our farm? At this point the sat nav came out.

Farm at the McCain factory

This farm has four turbines and each are 125m high, i.e. slightly smaller than the proposed BJ turbines. We stood approx 600m from them and looked in awe at their huge size. We we’re standing next to a very busy road so with the passing traffic it was difficult to determine their noise level.
We decided to try and get closer and we succeeded. You can just see me circled on the photo below. We managed to get right next to two of the four turbines. Standing underneath them the noise they made was a whoosh as the blades passed by the tower. Each turbine seemed to have a character all of its own. One of them let out a mechanical groaning noise and the other whined. I expected the whoosh but not the accompanying mechanical moans and groans.

I stood 200m away and the turbine’s whoosh and groan was clearly audible. This was on a quiet road in the McCain complex with no competing traffic noise. We couldn’t manage to get any further away from them and be in the quiet to be able to listen.

We walked to the second turbine and stood intently listening. It was then that I noticed the shadow flicker. Oh dear! It was 1.30 in the afternoon so the winter sun was maybe half way up in the sky. From our new position the sun was behind the turbines and as the blades rotated so their shadow was cast onto the ground. When the shadows of two turbines collided the effect was a bit like disco strobe lights or a whirlpool. If you’re old enough to have had a kaleidoscope then it was bit like that. You really wouldn’t want it in your garden! You may have seen the video from inside a nearby house where it’s like the lights are turning on and off. At one point the shadow was passing over a window and it was clear how from this effect would be evident.

The photo below shows how the shadow flicker was caught on a conveyor belt. It looks fine on the photo but imagine that shadow continually moving across the landscape.

Farm at Pondersbridge

There were eight turbines and we think that they are the same size as the proposed BJ turbines. We stood exactly 1.5km from them. I don’t think from the photo you would think we were standing so far away from them.

The wind was blowing a gale at us as the turbines stand in a very exposed position. All we could hear therefore was the wind whistling past. Unsurprisingly we couldn’t differentiate between turbine noise and wind noise.

Our conclusion on the size of the turbines

The turbines are obviously very big. Where we stood at Pondersbridge and from where we took the photos we thought that the turbines were about 600m away. When we got home and double checked the distance on Google earth we discovered that it was actually 1.5km. This gives you a very good idea of the size of the turbines and their impact.

We feel that the ‘novelty’ of seeing the turbines would wear off very quickly and in our opinion they only impact on the landscape negatively. In Burton Joyce they would stand out like a sore thumb, as there are no other high rise buildings or structures in the surrounding area. Shoe horning such massive structures into a confined space seems bizarre and absurd.

Our conclusion on noise

Certainly residents on Nottingham Road, in the day at least may not be bothered by the noise from the turbines as they compete with the ambient noise from the road. However, homes down-wind of the turbines in quieter parts of the village would possibly be able to hear them more during the day.

Our real concern however is at night time when the ambient noise levels are extremely low. As demonstrated by the noisy fan at STW that can be heard at night by residents as far away as Lambley Lane. We can only assume that the fan also works in the day when it cannot be heard.

I recorded the sound of the turbines on my mobile phone. We listened back to them once we arrived home. You may have experienced it before when you ‘dial’ into a noise and then you struggle to ignore it. People who live close to the turbines have spoken about this, once they notice the noise they just can’t stop listening to it. We listened to the noises on my phone and could also relate to the sensation of tuning into the noise, we both started slightly swaying in time to the noise. Imagine listening to a metronome and how that affects your body’s rhythm.

As many of you will know disturbed sleep on a regular basis has a profound effect on the quality of one’s life. We fear that the turbines may affect people’s sleep patterns.

Our conclusion on shadow flicker

If you were unlucky enough to have shadow flicker either in your garden or your ‘view’ I can honestly say it would drive you ever so slightly crazy. If you look at the moving shadows for long enough then you do feel slightly sick. It’s a bit like being on a bumpy boat because it gives the impression that the ground is moving ever so slightly.

If you are currently lucky enough to have a view of the fields where the turbines will be sited then I think we can say that it will no longer be quite the relaxing experience that it is at the moment.

Our conclusion on precedence

Clearly looking at Peterborough there are now numerous farms in operation. There is a real concern that once turbines arrive in one area they will quickly follow in surrounding areas. Just think of how many spare fields there are in our area.

Our concluding conclusion!

Our visit to Peterborough has only re-enforced our concerns. We know that there are people who live close to turbines who are not affected but there are also a number of people who are affected. There is mounting scientific evidence of the effect of wind turbines on health and other European countries are halting their turbine programmes, or imposing limits on the proximity of turbines to dwellings.

Our view is that it is just too risky to place these turbines so close to our homes when the possible effects are not yet known or completely understood. There are too many unknowns and once they’re up I think we can assume that they will stay up.