Visit helps decide if farm will be where wind blows (From Warrington Guardian)

Visit helps decide if farm will be where wind blows

PLANNING officers from Vale Royal Borough Council will visit an existing windfarm before making a decision on proposals to build one in Cheshire.

A planning application has already been submitted to erect a meteorological mast to measure wind speed at Oxleys Farm in Rushton.

Representatives from the borough council will now visit a site in Kendal to see a wind farm in action before giving the go ahead for the development at Oxleys Farm, which would be the first in Cheshire.

If tests to measure wind speed return good results a planning application to build three wind turbines at the proposed site will be submitted by the end of the year.

The project is being coordinated by Npower Renewables and it is hoped the turbines will provide enough energy to meet the average needs of 1,600 homes.

Phil Hodgson, owner of Oxleys Farm, believes wind farms will benefit the environment as well as his family.

He said: "We already know the wind speed in the area so we are hopeful that this will go ahead.

"There may be some opposition but I would just say to them that we must find new energy sources and wind turbines at the moment are the best alternative.

"Farmers must diversify or go out of business because there isn't as much money in farming anymore.

"We will get paid for this so it is a good thing for us but it is also a good thing for the environment."