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Peace at last for family who won court battle to silence turbine  

6/11/2013

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Credit:  By Victoria Allen | Scottish Daily Mail | 25 May 2013 | ~~

A family whose lives were made a misery by a neighbour’s noisy wind turbine have become the first in Scotland to get a court order to shut it down.

Retired civil servant Aileen Jackson, 54, was left powerless when her neighbour built a 64ft turbine only 300 yards from her house.

It kept her family awake every night, producing the noise of a ‘small helicopter’ and leaving them exhausted.

The farmer next door, who was selling the energy produced to the national Grid, refused to switch the machine off.

So Mrs Jackson became the first person in Scotland to fight a turbine in the courts – with the legal fees covered by her home insurance.

The farmer, from the Renfrewshire village of Uplawmoor, did not contest the noise abatement order and backed down. This week, a permanent court order was made to prevent him turning on the turbine again.

Campaigners hope the case will set a precedent for householders whose lives are blighted by turbines. Individual windmills are springing up across the country as landowners seek to cash in on the subsidies available.

Mrs Jackson said: ‘We became increasingly desperate after a two-and-a-half year fight against this turbine.

‘Smaller turbines are actually noisier than the big wind farms because they spin faster, creating a different character of sound. This one sounded like a small helicopter in what had been a completely peaceful, rural place.

‘Every time the prevailing wind was in our direction, we heard it, even with the windows shut.

‘We couldn’t sleep and my son quit his third year of university because he couldn’t work through the exhaustion.

‘My husband, an HGV driver, was worried he would fall asleep at the wheel and cause an accident.’

Mrs Jackson, 58-year-old husband William and sons Andrew, 26, and Brian, 25, first tried to get a noise abatement order through east Renfrewshire Council. But because the turbine fell within the acceptable decibel level under planning conditions, it was not granted.

The family could no longer sit in their conservatory or have people to stay because the turbine was so loud and even their six horses were initially frightened by the noise.

They made the decision to contact a solicitor and apply through the courts for help. The farmer decided not to fight the application and switched off the noisy machinery.

On May 20, in a ground-breaking step, the court made a permanent order to prevent ‘any recurrence of the noise nuisance’ from the turbine at Mid Uplaw farm. It has effectively banned the owner from ever switching it on again.

‘The relief and the peace when the turbine was switched off were remarkable,’ Mrs Jackson said. ‘It was really emotional after almost three years living with the noise.

‘I just want people to know that they are not too small to fight these turbines, that they don’t need money because their home insurance can cover it, and that they can be successful.’

The Hastie Stable Faculty of Scottish Advocates put the details of the ground-breaking case on its website. Its statement reads: ‘In an interesting application thought to be one of the first of its kind in Scotland, John Campbell, QC, was instructed to make an application to a sheriff for a noise abatement order.

‘The environmental Protection Act 1990, section 82, provides a little-known but simple method for members of the public to do this for themselves.’

Graham Lang, of campaign group Scotland Against Spin, said: ‘Many people in Scotland are being forced to put up with excessively noisy turbines.

‘Aileen Jackson’s refusal to give up and her pioneering case now offer many others a way out of their misery.’

The turbine owner, Campbell Erskine, could not be reached for comment.

Source:  By Victoria Allen | Scottish Daily Mail | 25 May 2013 |

https://www.wind-watch.org/news/2013/05/26/peace-at-last-for-family-who-won-court-battle-to-silence-turbine/
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The Myth of "Green "Jobs

2/8/2013

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Current renewable energy policies are no more than an unnecessarily costly means of achieving given emissions reductions. 
The idea, now embraced by our Government, that officially-created higher energy costs open up exciting new prospects for growth and jobs, is an illusion which this paper dispels effectively.

Please read 
click here to download

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The Performance of Wind Farms in the United Kingdom and Denmark

2/8/2013

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Thanks to a local supporter for the attached report into the Performance (or lack off Performance) of Wind Farms in the United Kingdom and Denmark.
Very interesting reading!

"These findings have important implications for policy towards wind generation in the UK. First,
they suggest that the subsidy regime is extremely generous if investment in new wind farms is profitable despite the decline in performance due to age and over time. Second, meeting
the UK Government’s targets for wind generation will require a much higher level of wind capacity – and, thus, capital investment – than current projections imply. Third, the structure
of contracts offered to wind generators under the proposed reform of the electricity market should be modified since few wind farms will operate for more than 12–15 years."
Click here to download document

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Uncomfortable link between B9 Energy and Omagh District Council

1/31/2013

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See attached link below and/or click on the image to the left for 'B9 Energy' Wind Farms featured on Omagh District Council Webpage.

B9 Energy originally build Bessy Bell Co. Tyrone (now looking at phase 3 development) and has been responsible for several other Windfarms in the Omagh area. This company is planning to build yet another Windfarm on Slievard and Rylagh, in a designated area of outstanding natural beauty. 

"Omagh, County Tyrone at the Foothills of the Sperrins" 

How this promotes culture, leisure and tourism is beyond me...

http://www.omagh.gov.uk/culture_leisure_and_tourism/things_to_do/activities/other_activities/item.php?id=244

P.S. take note of the misleading information provided...

e.g. "Stimulate UK manufacturing industry to take a lead in the growing world-wide markets for renewable energy." 

Turbines are manufactured in Germany and imported here.

e.g. "Wind turbines are a temporary change to the landscape. A well-sited wind farm will not cause any disturbance." 

There is nothing temporary about it...tonnes of steel, concrete, miles of  heavy duty roads and irreversible damage to blanket bogs, flora/fauna, bats, birds, etc, etc. 

Also fails to specify what 'well sited' means...many of these same wind farms have been associated with sleep disturbance.


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What happens when the money dries up?

1/25/2013

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Tens of thousands of abandoned wind turbines now litter American landscape
The whole wind energy mess just illustrates how the American people have been played by their elected officials who bought into the "global warming" hysteria that spawned the push for wind energy in the first place. And now that the renewable energy tax subsidies are gradually coming to an end in some places, the true financial and economic viability, or lack of wind energy, is on display for the world to see.

In the UK, the energy industry admitted as long ago as 2008 that wind turbines are idle up to 30% of the time because of the unreliability of the wind. A report from the British Renewable Energy Foundation at the time describes the economically disastrous wind turbine industry.

Learn more: 
http://www.naturalnews.com/034234_wind_turbines_abandoned.html#ixzz2J1d3KCHn
http://toryaardvark.com/2011/11/17/14000-abandoned-wind-turbines-in-the-usa/
http://vitalsignsblog.blogspot.co.uk/2011/11/new-symbol-of-epa-wind-farm-graveyards.html
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Ireland to build 'giant' wind turbines to power UK homes!

1/24/2013

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UK and Irish ministers will today sign an agreement that could see some of the world's largest wind turbines built across the Irish midlands.

Stretching more than 600 feet (180 metres) in the air, the towers are set to generate energy for millions of UK homes from 2017.

The companies involved say the Irish power is a cheaper form of renewable than UK offshore wind.

But environmentalists have described the scheme as "crazy".

They say it risks damaging Ireland's landscape.

Under the plan, a number of companies are seeking to erect hundreds of wind turbines across the boggy midlands of Ireland. The power generated would be transferred to the UK via undersea cables that would join the grid at two points in Wales.

Full story:  http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-21147279

What do you think?

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