Public Inquiry into Appeal for Three 100m Wind Turbines at Potato Pot, near Branthwaite

This Inquiry began on Tuesday 16^th April and was scheduled to end on Friday 19^th with a site visit. In fact, the proceedings went much more quickly than expected and the Inquiry was wrapped up by Thursday lunchtime.  The reason for the early finish is that the case being advanced by Allerdale Borough Council lacked substance and therefore closed sooner than might have been expected.

The Council was defending its decision to refuse the proposal to erect three 100m wind turbines on land at Potato Pot, near Branthwaite but, by Wednesday lunchtime, Inspector Braithwaite had already remarked that he had 'never seen a more poorly presented case' in 17 years' experience.

Problems arose with the evidence of an expert witness for the Council, Mr King of Wardell Armstrong, which did not seem to fully represent the Council's views.

Mr King had added a property to the Council's list of homes which would be unacceptably affected by the development. Speaking for the appellant, Airvolution Energy, Mr David Hardy pointed out that there had never yet been a refusal on the basis of impact on a property situated 1.2km from a wind turbine site.

Mr Hardy established very early on in the proceedings that a separate proposal to erect four 99m wind turbines at Lillyhall, just 800m from the Potato Pot site, is completely irrelevant to this appeal.  Although the Lillyhall application is far advanced in the planning system, Inspector Braithwaite fully agreed with Mr Hardy that it would only be relevant if it had already been consented.  In that case, the two wind energy schemes might have been considered to cause a combined adverse cumulative impact on the landscape.

All of the computer generated images supplied to the Inquiry by Wardell Armstrong on behalf of Allerdale Borough Council were assessed to be inaccurate because incorrect grid references had been entered into the computer software.

The evidence given by the expert witness, Mr King, and the Council's Planning Officer, Mr Long, seemed to be at variance.  Mr Long had indicated that he could not ascertain that Mr King's evidence fully reflected the Council's views without returning to members of the Development Panel.

The inclusion of the Lillyhall scheme as a prime reason for refusing the Potato Pot turbines was, according to Mr Hardy, 'a costly mistake suggested by Mr King.'

It is difficult to disagree with Mr Hardy's description in his summing up of 'a Council in disarray.'

Having attended the Inquiry on behalf of Friends of Rural Cumbria's Environment (FORCE), I am deeply disappointed at this turn of events.  Our involvement in this particular planning application has been limited although FORCE did submit an early objection.

It seems that our Planning Department has let down the people of Allerdale on many levels in relation to the Potato Pot turbines.

In the very first instance, the planning fee was undercharged by some £24,000.  We are in possession of an email from the planning department which confirms this.

Secondly, there really was no need to place so much emphasis on the un-built and currently un-consented Lillyhall turbines.  There ARE plenty of operational turbines in the area which should have been brought to the Inspector's attention.  The nearest are the wind farms at Winscales and Fairfield but, as anyone who lives in the area knows well, many more are visible from individual viewpoints and sequentially from local roads.

Thirdly, there can be no acceptable excuse for the inaccurate computer generated images which were presented to the Inquiry by Allerdale Planners.

Fourthly, the fact that the main representatives for the Council appeared not to have been fully briefed or to understand each other's position indicates a lack of preparation and professionalism.

And finally, it appears that there was insufficient administrative support provided to Mr Long himself since, on more than one occasion, he had to leave the Inquiry in order to do his own photocopying even when other planning officers were present!

So far as local planning policy is concerned, Mr Hardy was quick to point out that the current Local Plan for Allerdale is 'silent' on the subject of renewable energy and therefore of no account.  It is to be hoped that the new plan which is scheduled to go out to consultation soon will rectify this situation and afford us some protection from the onward march of the turbines.  The Cumbria Wind Energy Supplementary Planning Document which, interestingly, Mr Hardy takes to be wholly supportive of developers, is also of limited use only as it contains some statements with which Planning Inspectors clearly do not agree.

Following the Council's lamentable performance at this Public Inquiry, the appellant is seeking costs in the event of a successful outcome.  The grounds for this are 'unreasonable behaviour' on the part of the Council such as the late introduction of evidence causing additional work etc.  In the event that the appellant's case is successful and costs are awarded, these losses to the Council will have to be added to the undercharged planning fees with which the Potato Pot proposal began!

As stated earlier, the people of Allerdale have been poorly served by the Planning Department in this case  For residents near Potato Pot, we must still hope that Inspector Braithwaite reaches the conclusion that the appeal should be dismissed.  But if he does so, it will have been without the help of Allerdale Borough Council's Planning Officers!