The main item on the Environment Committee was a consideration of E.On’s The Isles windfarm consultation. Speaking on the issue, Cllr Clare acknowledged that many Councillors and members of the public were, in general, in favour of ‘green energy’. However, on the specific issue of placing a windfarm on The Isles, the Council should oppose the proposal. The Local Plan of the former Sedgefield District Council had identified The Isles Carrs as a unique and delicate area which needed protecting, and had resisted not only the construction of new buildings, but even the introduction of trees and hedges.
It was an inappropriate development, therefore, that sought to site on this unique and delicate area, 24 huge turbines, each five times the height of the town centre clock, each bedded on a block of concrete 40 metres deep, serviced by 14.7km of new tracks, two substations, and with buried cabling from every turbine. By anybody’s reckoning, the carrs environment is going to be hugely damaged, probably irreparably.
Meanwhile, even many who support renewable energy appreciate that County Durham is doing more than ‘its bit’. The consultant engineering firm Arup has indicated that the area already has sufficient windfarms. Indeed, data we have been given, supplied from Renewables UK, indicates that, if all the turbines already operating, consented and submitted are taken into account, County Durham would have a density of one turbine to every 6 sq.miles, and of 1MW of wind power every 3 sq.miles. For comparison, Sussex would have a density of one turbine every 1,458 sq.miles, and Surrey would have none at all.
No Councillor spoke or voted for the windfarm, so the proposal to oppose it was carried without opposition.
In another item, the Town Council has sought and been granted a licence to look after the entrance area to the railway station, so hopefully that will soon begin to look smarter and more attractive.
There were four items of interest on the Recreation Committee.
The Council is in contact with Newton Aycliffe FC to try to increase the amount of parking available on match days; the Council is offering the use of an area of land to the south of the park … provided the County Council improves the southern end of Moore Lane to allow safe access.
The Council refused to extend the opening hours of the Town Centre Park (it had been suggested that this would reduce anti-social behaviour in the Tesco car park and surrounding area); children from the park are not responsible for the wild driving that takes place in Tesco’s car park, which was properly a police matter. Meanwhile, however, the Council did support a scheme by some Durham County Councillors and GAMP to provide additional skateboarding equipment in the Town Centre Park.
The Committee was unable to discuss the provision of a Multi-Use Games Area in the Horndale area because a formal approach had not yet been received; the Council, however, is supportive in principle and hopes to be able to progress the matter.
