CAMPAIGNERS fighting an application to erect wind turbines as big as Blackpool Tower on a ridge overlooking parts of Mid Cheshire are furious over the decision by planning chiefs to recom-mend it for approval.
The proposal by developer Tegni Cymru to site a windfarm at Aston Grange Farm has attracted controversy ever since it was first submitted to Vale Royal Borough Council last year.
Wide public consultation on the application, which allows for four wind turbine generators up to 125m high, along with a substation, access tracks and a wind monitoring mast on green belt land, has brought forth hundreds of objections from residents and communities concerned about the impact of such a major development on the landscape and environment.
Cllr Steve Pardoe, vice-chairman of Acton Bridge Parish Council, one of the eight parish councils which would be most severely affected by the wind farm, said: 'I am absolutely against it. We think it is a terrible invasion of the green belt and completely inappropriate.
'The site is on green belt land and within an Area of Special County Value, and the Weaver Valley Regional Park.
'The Parish Councils' objections, together with those of the Ramblers' Association, Campaign to Protect Rural England (CPRE Cheshire), British Horse Society, Mid-Cheshire Bridleway Association, Mid-Cheshire Ornithological Society and Cheshire Wildlife Trust have been swept aside, as have 322 letters and e-mails from members of the public.'
The application will go before a special planning committee on October 3, but even if it is approved, protesters may yet emerge victorious, as the application would still have to go before the Secretary of State, who could decide to hold a public inquiry.
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