UK's biggest wind farm is a noisy neighbour
A couple whose home is overshadowed by the largest onshore wind farm in the UK were left angry and frustrated by yesterday's political spat over future developments.
John Huxtable and Sue Pike's bungalow is just 600 metres from one of the 22 giant turbines at Fullabrook in North Devon.
They've described how the noise from the 110-metre turbine compares to a "great cement mixer going around" interspersed with "loud whooshes, whistles and hums".
"Even with the windows shut you can still hear them in the sitting room," Sue said yesterday. "It comes right through the house. It's ridiculous, it really is. If you go outside, you hear it but you get on with your work and you switch off from it," John adds. "It's a bit like living next to a motorway, you just have to put up with the noise."
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The couple, who believe their home has been substantially devalued by the development, were left exasperated by the row over comments made by Conservative Energy Minister John Hayes.
"It has only been said because they are going to lose a lot of votes over it," Mr Huxtable said. "They would lose a lot of support if they started putting up thousands of turbines all over the countryside.
"But they wouldn't have the turbine we have, at the bottom of their back garden. If it was put next to David Cameron's £1 million home and it knocked £350,000 off the value, he wouldn't like it and that is what we are talking about."
The 22 turbines at Fullabrook are said to be capable of producing 66MW – enough electricity to meet the needs of about 30,000 homes in North Devon. The scheme was approved in October 2007.
Comments
by DBaldwin
Thursday, November 01 2012, 2:53PM
“I feel for anyone forced to live beside a wind power station however the headline "UK's biggest wind farm is a noisy neighbour" is factually incorrect for describing Fullabrook wind farm in Devon, which I believe is the largest onshore wind farm in England. I live beside the Hadyard Hill wind farm in South Ayrshire, Scotland, which is also a noisy neighbour and it has 52 110m turbines. In addition Whitelee wind farm near Glasgow currently has 120 operational turbines with a further 75 awaiting commissioning making it not only the largest in the UK but in Europe. Describing Fullabrook as the largest wind farm in the UK really belittles the scale of the number of wind turbines plaguing the UK.”