Vale Royal Borough opens Npower wind farm talks (From Warrington Guardian)

Vale Royal Borough opens Npower wind farm talks

WIND farms may soon be visible in the Cheshire skyline if tentative plans for turbines go ahead.

Although a planning application has yet to be submitted to Vale Royal Borough Council, a council spokesman confirmed that officers were in discussion with energy company Npower while the company considers submitting plans for turbines in Rushton, near Tarporley.

The presence of strong, natural wind channels in the area is believed to make the Rushton a prime site for a wind farm in the future.

And last Tuesday, councillors on Vale Royal's planning committee approved an application from Welsh firm Tegni Cymru for a 50 metre tall, wind-metering mast at a farm in Aston - although the Office of the Deputy Prime Minister will have the final say on the application.

The Government has set itself a target of 10 per cent of all energy being produced from sustainable sources by 2010, and shoppers and workers at Northwich Market seemed to voice tentative support for renewable energy yesterday.

John Bunney, of Sandown Crescent in Sandiway, said: "I support having wind farms in Cheshire in certain areas. I don't think they are unsightly.

"I have done a lot of sailing in Liverpool Bay and have come close to turbines out there - people talk about the noise they make but I have yet to hear them although they are certainly a navigational hazard when you're sailing."

Northwich market trader Bob Wilson seemed to agree. He said: "I do not think they do any harm.

"As long as they are not put up outside people's houses or look like a blight on the landscape then I don't see a problem.

"We have to think about renewable energy and they do not cause any pollution."

The council spokesman said that Vale Royal's response to Npower's enquiries was confidential, but that the company was seeking to find out whether an environmental assessment would be necessary to obtain planning permission.