You can write now OBJECTING to npowers Community Consultation 

Please write to Councillor N.M. Lewis at

Ditchett Barton, Rackenford, Tiverton EX16 8EJ

or nancy_lewis@northdevon.gov.uk

Please copy your correspondence to MP Nick Harvey at

Nick Harvey MP-North Devon, 23 Castle Street, Barnstaple EX31 1DR

or harveyn@parliament.uk

You will no doubt have your own observations regarding npowers community consultation process. However some considerations you may wish to incorporate in your letter are suggested below:

This is one of biggest decisions this community has ever had to make yet much information appeared to be missing, misleading or inaccurate. This could render npowers community consultation process, which to date has consisted of two news letters and one exhibition, unhelpful and highly ineffective. A community cannot make a decision about a major industrial development without all the facts.

The news letters:

* npowers news letter issue 1 included:

1.      a location map of their proposal

2.      that their proposal ‘may compromise of up to 9 wind turbines capable of producing a total of 18MW’

3.      a comment seeming to undermine concern over noise.  

* npowers news letter issue 2 included:

1.      a location map of their proposal

2.      that npower ‘would like to proceed with a design of  9 wind turbines’ and later ‘with a capacity 18MW’

3.      the likely tower and blade sizes

4.      the approximate construction time and the fact that there will be some disturbance

5.      the possible life span of the site

6.      a comment seeming to undermine concern over noise

7.      a comment seeming to undermine concern over health

8.      a most misleading comment on the negative impact on house prices.  

 Out of  two, four paged pamphlets, so little information directly referring to npowers resulting development and its effect on the community being consulted, may deemed to be extremely uninformative .

Issue 2 appeared to be unedited.

The exhibition:

1.   The photo montages were unrealistic and of extremely poor quality. Apparently, the absence of better pictures was due to a      courier failing to deliver them. However, these pictures were required for a meeting on Friday and yet three days later they had still not been delivered. 

2.   The RICS survey reports that ‘the negative impact on property values continues but becomes less severe after two years’ yet npowers literature said the negative impact on house prices ‘recovered after two years’.

3.   The diagram of the turbine foundations did not necessarily illustrate the foundations that would be used at Batsworthy Cross.

4.   The actual location and method of connection to the grid from Batsworthy Cross was still not available.

5.   There was no information on shadow flicker i.e. the strobe affect created by the shadow of the turning blades.

6.   Road closures and their duration during the approximate years build, were not specified.

7.   There was no information on road alterations.

8.   There was a photograph of a lorry cab. The lorries bringing in the turbine parts are nearly 50m long and therefore a picture of the whole of one such lorry may have been more informative and less misleading. 

9.   There was no information on whether the turbines would be lit at night.

10. There were no independent sourced facts and figures on the affects of this proposal on tourism and wildlife.

11. There did not appear to be a systematic approach to ensuring that all attendees were aware of the exhibition feed back forms.

12.  npower only gave us two weeks notice of their exhibition.

13.  npower have had only one exhibition, which some people could not attend.

14. npowers only exhibition could have been held in the most affected parishes so that people in those parishes could most easily attend.

15. Most of the display material was not available to take away and consider and is not on npowers Batsworthy Cross website.

16. We have little time to verify npowers information and to gather our own. 

17. There was a potentially intimating ‘green’ stand as an integral part of npowers exhibition, some of whose participants have written letters to the press pouring scorn on named individuals who are greatly affected by npowers proposal. These participants were not known to be in the employ of npower nor members of the community being consulted i.e. those within a 10 km radius of Batsworthy Cross and therefore their presence was considered to be highly inappropriate.