Councils welcome windfarm decision
Winchester City Council, Test Valley Borough Council and Basingstoke and Deane Borough Council have welcomed a decision by EDF Energy Renewables to drop its appeal against refusal of an application to develop a windfarm at Bullington Cross.
EDF proposed a 14-turbine windfarm on land near the intersection of the A303 and the A34, affecting all three district council areas.
The application was refused at a joint meeting of the three authorities’ planning committees in June 2014 - councillors believed Bullington Cross was the wrong site. EDF announced its intention to appeal against the decision in December 2014.
On Tuesday 13 July 2015 EDF decided not to continue with the appeal in the light of recent Government announcements related to planning, on-shore windfarms and subsidies.
Cllr Michael Read, Winchester City Council’s Portfolio Holder for Built Environment, speaking on behalf of the three councils, said:
This is good news for the people of all three districts. Whilst supporting the principle of sustainable energy generation we had a number of objections to the proposed windfarm at Bullington Cross including its impact on the rural landscape, heritage assets and ecology.
The decision by EDF not to pursue the appeal further will save all the authorities much time and money and will be welcomed by many residents who were concerned about the prospect of having 14 large wind turbines in their area.