See the full article here – http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/politics/9779000/Wind-farm-protesters-backed-by-planning-minister-Nick-Boles.html

Upstate New York residents have filed a lawsuit in state court against compa­nies involved in a wind project, claiming that the project has caused health problems and reduced housing prices. Abele v. Iberdrola USA Inc., No. 12-5919 (N.Y. Sup.Ct., Albany Cnty. filed 10/24/12). Multiple plaintiffs allege negligence, public and private nuisance, trespass, negligence per se, and strict product liability claims against defendants that own or were involved in the design of the Hardscrabble Wind Power Project in Fairfield, New York.

Plaintiffs allege that the project’s noise levels exceed those anticipated in the design under which different turbines were to be used, and also exceed limits set in a Fairfield ordinance. Plaintiffs further claim that the wind farm causes visual problems ranging from obstruction of the previous view to flickering lights and a view of red safety lights from residences at night. Plaintiffs assert damages including reduced enjoyment of their property, loss of property value and, in some cases, physical ailments from the presence of the project’s 37 100-meter towers.

We are pleased to report that Not one person voted to accept the proposal by Aspley Enterprises.

Thank you for everyone who supported the SOS campaign, this should send a strong message of how the local community feel, and well done Slindon for leading by example.

More good news is the below article about Staffordshire County Council.

“The local economy and improving people’s quality of life are top priorities for the county council and we don’t want to see them negatively impacted upon as a result of wind turbine developments,” he said. “Staffordshire is a predominantly rural county and we do not want to see the industrialisation of areas through such developments.”

Additionally the council agreed, any large scale wind energy development – defined as a single turbine taller than 50m, two or more turbines taller than 30m, 10 or more turbines regardless of height and any development exporting power to the national grid at 33 kilovolts – should be located at least 2km from any residential area.

Please follow the link for the full article: http://www.staffordshirenewsletter.co.uk/News/Blueprint-to-protect-Staffordshires-rural-landscapes-gets-green-stamp-19102012.htm

Thank you for all of your support, we are starting to make a difference and the right people are listening.

Remember this is your campaign, your feed back is important.

Any comments to info@savingourskyine.co.uk

Please continue to check this, your website, for further details.

A council ruling aimed at protecting the countryside around Stafford from major wind turbine schemes has been welcomed.

Staffordshire County Council has set a stance which will mean the authority will reject any single turbine reaching a height of more than 164ft. The motion, approved by members last week, will also see the council turn down developments of more than 10 turbines at a single site.

The move comes despite the Government actively looking for greener and more sustainable ways to generate electricity. But Stafford Borough Council councillor Mike Smith said: “In general I believe this is a sensible stance from the council.”

“You have to consider each turbine on its merit, but any turbine above 164ft would seem too high in the Stafford countryside….”

We have recently released two new flyers to both update and thank you all for your generous support so far.

• While a planning application has not yet been submitted
• Aspley Enterprises still intend on building two 150ft wind turbines in Slindon.
• 1600 signatures as the local community lobby at Stafford Borough Council meeting
• At  a recent planning meeting Councillors reject Tixal Farm turbines, stating that it would be “A blot on the horizon”

Our second flyer encourages people to say “No” to the pay-off offered by Aspley Enterprises. Their offer of £500 per turbine per year is nothing compared to the value that will be knocked off your home and the destruction of our beautiful rural enviroment. It is also nothing compared to the £3 million plus that the turbine operator could earn during the scheme – mostly from taxpayers!!

Please download our update flyer and also the small “Say No to the Pay-Off” flyer

While we still wait for Aspley Enterprises to submit a planning application, we are informed it is still their intention to do so. It has been reported that the Warringtons have recently commissioned an Ecological Survey of the intended site to bolster their planning application.

You campaign, www.savingourskyline.co.uk  are now in a good position to fight any planning application, with our Technical team giving lots of their time preparing for this.

Rest assured when we hear anything we will let you know and that’s when we will need everyone’s help.

I’m sure we can count on all of you to support your community.

Please continue to visit us here, your community’s website on www.savingourskyline.co.uk for updates.

We have also had a letter published in the Stafford Newsletter just recently, please click here to have a read.

Remember this is your campaign, any feedback is important to us, please let us know by emailing info@savingourskyline.co.uk.

………………Now the good news!

Thanks to the efforts of you all, it appears our County Council are listening.

Thank you Staffordshire County Council for a new draft policy document, where emerging policy is considering amongst other things that:

No wind turbine be sited within a 2km radius of any residential property because of potential noise issues.

Which bodes well for the future of any further developments within Staffordshire. Let’s just hope that the emerging policy is implemented in time to help preserve our skyline.

If you wish to read the draft policy, please download it here:  SOS SCC Draft Wind Turbine Policy.

So….. despite our efforts, Aspley Enterprises seem intent on pursuing the scheme and we expect a planning application to be submitted shortly.

We will keep you posted.

On another note there is now a National e-petition on HM Government web site to stop onshore wind turbines in the UK.

Please follow the link to sign up

http://epetitions.direct.gov.uk/petitions/22958?utm_source=Wind+Farm+Petition&utm_campaign=Wind+Farm&utm_medium=email

Again thanks for all of your support and hard work that people have put into our campaign.

This is an article from this weeks Staffordshire Newsletter. If you would lke to read the whole article, please download our scan here.