Harriett Baldwin, Conservative Parliamentary Candidate for West Worcestershire has this week submitted comments to Tewkesbury Borough Council on the recent application by Wind Prospect Ltd. to develop three wind turbines near Strensham in the West Worcestershire constituency.
The planning application has been lodged with Tewkesbury Borough Council because the land is a few metres inside Gloucestershire. However, due to an unusual shape to the County border in this area, the village most affected is Strensham, which is in Wychavon District. In May 2009, Wychavon rejected an application for an access track to the site from Strensham because:
"The proposed access track will result in an alien feature in the rural locality and represent encroachment into the countryside. As such, the proposed development would not be sympathetic to the landscape. Also the proposed development would require the removal of part of an existing stone wall that forms part of a locally important historic park/garden. As such the proposal would have an adverse effect on the appearance, character and setting of the historic park/garden. For these reasons the proposed development is contrary to policies ENV1 and ENV11 of the Wychavon District Local Plan, policies CTC.1 and CTC.19 of the Worcestershire County Structure Plan and policy QE5 of the West Midlands Spatial Strategy. "
Harriett Baldwin has commented on the application. She has made three points:
- Wychavon District Council have rejected the access track application and the site is not viable without access. An appeal is underway to the Planning Inspectorate, but may well be unsuccessful.
- The application shows that the wind turbines are very visible from Bredon Hill, an area of outstanding natural beauty, when looking towards the Malverns, another area of outstanding natural beauty.
- The site is less than 700m from housing.