Residents block Grange Moor turbine plan
Dec 17 2010 by Barry Gibson, Huddersfield Daily Examiner
RESIDENTS have stopped a pair of huge turbines from being built in their village.
Kirklees Council planners yesterday rejected a proposal to install two 47.5 metre high windmills at Grange Ash Farm in Grange Moor.
Residents’ spokesman Tony Popplewell welcomed the decision.
Speaking to the Examiner moments after the result was announced, the chairman of Grange Moor Against Turbines said: “It’s good to see that common sense was applied.
“This result shows that local people are not here to be railroaded by commercial companies for commercial gain.”
Dewsbury MP Simon Reevell was also pleased with the decision.
The Conservative spoke against the turbines at yesterday’s meeting of the council’s Heavy Woollen Planning Sub-committee at Batley Town Hall.
After the result, he told the Examiner: “I’m absolutely delighted for the people of Grange Moor who have worked really hard to stop an inappropriate development.
“This shows what residents can do when they stand together.”
Mitie Asset Management had asked Kirklees for permission to install two 47.5 metre turbines behind the Kaye Arms pub.
But 1,002 residents wrote to the council objecting to the proposed windmills, saying they would be too close to homes, would distract drivers on Wakefield Road and would spoil the view.
Kirkburton Parish Council, Yorkshire Euro-MP Godfrey Bloom, the Campaign to Protect Rural England and the Open Spaces Society, also objected to the proposed development on Green Belt land.
Six people spoke against the development at yesterday’s meeting, including Tony Lyon of Ben Booth Lane.
