Hi - Peel Holdings are proposing a new Wind Farm in Frodsham/Helsby (20 wind turbines in total). The proposed sight is on marsh land which is a registered green belt site and is of great interest to many bird watchers. How many people are aware of this proposed development and if you know the area what are your views?
I live close to this area and knew nothing of the proposals. I'm not in favour of the development, not so much because of the wind farm itself, but a new bridge is being planned that will also affect wildlife on the Mersey With the bridge are plans to extend the road links; more disruption for wildlife and people alike!
A wind farm is one step too far.
Andy P said: Hi - Peel Holdings are proposing a new Wind Farm in Frodsham/Helsby (20 wind turbines in total). The proposed sight is on marsh land which is a registered green belt site and is of great interest to many bird watchers. How many people are aware of this proposed development and if you know the area what are your views?
Hi Andy and thanks for bringing the matter to members attention. The area threatened by the proposed massive windfarm is well known to bird watchers and twitchers from all over the country. If I may quote a recent policy statement for area perhaps people will realise why so many of us are up in arms about the planning application.
" The Frodsham,Helsby and Lordship Marshes are important in a number of ways; firstly ,due to the statutory Ramsar designation they are of national importance and also provide a rare habitat for wildlife;secondly,on a county wide scale,they include SBIs and provide a significant break in the industrial landscape of the area....Even a relatively small amount of development could have an adverse impact on the landscape due to the lack of trees and woodland and its essentially open character.
The ASLEV (area of special local enviromental value) designation for the area contains a RAMSAR site and 3 sites of biological Importance. The largest,covering virtually the whole site is an A grade SBI designated because of its ornithological interest and botanical diversity provided by the sequence of habitats ranging from bare mud to agricultural land.The other 2 are grade B SBIs deisnated for their importance for breeding birds and valuable diversity of habitats"
Pretty important area yes??? You would think so!
Not however the RSPB. Following talks with the developers the society ( an unelected group) has given its approval to the windfarm. It is just beyond me to understand how we can be campaigning throughout the world to protect nature,yet in our own country the RSPB seems to adopt different values.
Christopher Booker of the Telegraph has recently stated " In Britain,the RSPB claims to keep a critical eye on the effects of windfarms on bird life,but nevertheless urges major expansion of wind farms,on the grounds that climate change is the most significant threat to biodiversity on the planet. It receives money from the wind farm builder Scottish and Southern Energy for every customer signing up for electricity under its RSPB Energy scheme.
Marc Duchamp on his spanish web site was extremly critical of the RSPB haphazrd approach to wind farms and there killing of bird life.
I could go on, there's plenty of plenty of fuel for the fire......but times up!!
Save our Marshes
ken
Hi there,
I'm afraid that the particular development that prompted this thread lies outside my region, but if you care to get in touch with the relevant regional office I'm sure my colleagues would be pleased to explain what involvement the RSPB had in the proposal, and why we came to whatever conclusions we did about the impacts of this particular development.
Speaking in more general terms as an RSPB conservation officer responsible (in the Midlands) for commenting on wind farm proposals, I would like to put a few thoughts 'out there' for the defence, if defence is needed.
First, please visit the RSPB website and read our views about climate change, wind farms and related topics on renewable energy, and then make up your own mind about whether our approach is fair, rational, appropriate etc. Newspapers love a good story and are fun to read, but don't base your judgement solely on those sources. We have to respond to the threat of climate change. Sea level rise is already threatening important coastal wetlands in East Anglia (e.g. Titchwell and Walberswick), seabirds have been having disastrous breeding seasons due we think to rising sea temperatures, birds like ring ouzels and pied flycatchers show signs of problems driven in part by changing climate. Around the world we are already seeing the first climate-driven extinctions, like the Costa Rican golden toad.
I don't think our approach to wind farms is haphazard, and of course our role is that of a consultee, just like any other organisation. We insist on proper environmental assessment for all major projects, we scutinise the results, consider the developer's conclusions, decide if we agree or not, and where there are likely to be impacts on nationally important bird populations, we object. In many cases it's possible to negotiate a way around the problem.
The fact that we object to relatively few of the wind farm developments we hear about is because most developers know that if they propose developments in places that will threaten nationally or internationally important bird populations, they will face determined opposition. As an example, consider the Isle of Lewis proposal (info on our website). That was in Scotland of course - read about the case and then make up your own mind whether the RSPB's energy scheme affected our approach to this development.
In the Midlands, I've personally looked at well over 150 pre-application consultations from wind farm developers, mostly in confidence, over the last 5-6 years. Few of these get as far as a planning application, and even fewer gain permission, for all sorts of reasons including biodiversity impacts in some cases. The point of pre-application discussions is so we can head off the really problematic ones 'at the pass'. These, you probably never hear about, which is kind of a shame in a way...
There is plenty of scientific evidence that wind farms in the wrong place can affect bird populations: if you're interested to read about what kinds of birds we're concerned about and the evidence for such effects, have a look at the recently published wind farm sensitivity map for England, on our website (to get there just search for England wind farm map). But the counterpoint here is that over most of farmed lowland England, all the evidence suggests that wind farm development is feasible without having massive harmful impacts on birds.
We know that wind farms are emotive subjects, often on landscape grounds. But as RSPB members I believe you'd expect us to comment on things that affect birds, and leave other issues to other experts.
Looking forward to your comments.
Best wishes,
Colin
(Senior Conservation Planner in the RSPB Midlands Region)