AIRFIELD bosses could be gearing up for a seventh wrangle over plans to build a wind turbine in their parachute drop zone, as part of proposals a councillor claims will have residents up in arms.
Kinetica Energy want to build a 50ft wind monitoring mast on land at Edder Acres Farm, in Shotton Colliery, which would collect wind data and then establish the suitability for a wind turbine at the site.
But there are concerns from bosses at Peterlee Parachute Centre, at the nearby Shotton Airfield, about the plans.
They have already fought off two planning applications and two subsequent appeals for turbine projects at the farm, run by a Mr and Mrs Musgrave, over the past eight years, alongside similar proposals from the nearby NSK Group, which airfield bosses said could have closed the centre, and one at West Moor Farm.
Owner Ian Rosenvinge said: “It’s hard to believe we have faced them before and we are facing them again.
“There needs to be some accommodation this time.
“This time the turbine is planned from the south of the farm, the other site was considerably closer to us.
“If they pushed this mast another 600ft or so south, it would be outside our drop zone and we are hoping from an airfield point of view they would do that.
“It is going to be opposite local people’s houses, I imagine they would be up in arms about it.”
Plans for two 365-ft wind turbines elsewhere on the farm previously attracted an outcry of opposition, including a 327-signature petition and 59 letters of objection.
Peterlee town councillor Ted Hall says residents in the Oakerside area he represents would be affected by a turbine on the land.
The independent councillor, who is due to send leaflets to residents about the plans, said: “I’m concerned about the impact any turbine could have on the houses in the Oakerside area.
“The rotor on the turbine would be at eye-level to their bedrooms, and some houses in Shotton.
“People are up in arms.”
A spokeswoman for Newcastle-based SKM, acting on behalf of Kinetica Energy, said the company could not comment at this stage.
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