Thornton turbine plan causes concern among Bronte enthusiasts (From Bradford Telegraph and Argus)

Thornton turbine plan causes concern among Bronte enthusiasts

9:00am Monday 11th February 2013 in News By Chris Young, T&A Reporter

Fears that Bronte Country could become over-run with wind turbines have been re-kindled after plans for three turbines a few hundred metres from the sisters’ birthplace were unveiled.

Over a dozen applications for turbines have been submitted to Bradford Council in the past year, while plans to increase the height of a windfarm in Ovenden Moor was approved by neighbouring Calderdale Council in November.

A society for Haworth’s most famous residents have pledged to fight the latest application.

And protest group Thornton Moor Wind Farm Action Group says the application is just a small example of how the area was being targeted for turbines.

The plans for Old Oxenhope Farm would see three 15-metre turbines.

With the Bronte Parsonage Museum having re-opened this weekend, the society hopes visitors will come flooding in. But Christine Went, heritage and conservation officer, worries that tourists expecting to see the moors that inspired the sisters will instead be greeted with turbines. She said: “OK, these turbines are not huge, but they are not a natural feature either. There is an accumulation of them in the area that is becoming worrying. A woman who came to Haworth to write about the Brontes recently said it’s not worth coming here because it’s all turbines.”

Anthea Orchard, a member of Thornton Moor Wind Farm Action Group, said until Bradford Council creates a wind turbine strategy, more turbine applications will appear.

Other applications in the past 12 months include: six approved turbines across Haworth, Denholme, Steeton Oakworth and Laycock, seven refused turbines across the area, and approval to increase the height of some of the masts at Ovenden Moor from 49 metres to 115 metres.

Decisions still pending include a 55-metre high turbine in Eldwick, a 27-metre turbine at Denholme and two separate 15-metre turbines in Oxenhope.

Meanwhilem, Bradford Council approved a 15-metre tall turbine at Green Acres, Fishbeck Lane, Silsden. Planners said the application, by Anthony Hargreaves, was “relatively close to the urban periphery that is less visually sensitive than less developed areas to the north and north east”.