You can’t get more rural than the village of Gorran High Lanes, Cornwall, South West England. If you believe the British press and fossil fuel lobby, you’d be forgiven for believing that this would be the heart of NIMBY (Not In My Back Yard) and that the mere whiff of an idea to erect an onshore wind turbine would have them protesting and getting in a right old lather. Not so! They may sometimes be given the unfair reputation of being “local yokels” chewing straw and not knowing anything about anything. But the people of Gorran High Lanes are an inspiration to all who support investments in renewables regardless of the waxing and waning of political support.
So what did they do? The Cornish village of Gorran High Lanes raised £80,000 in a share issue to install two 80KW wind turbines with the aim was to create their own sustainable energy source. It was a success:
But not just in providing green energy for the village: The turbines have produced other benefits for the community, with 3% of the revenue funding further eco-friendly initiatives. These have included insulating the village hall and installing LED lighting in the church. Green energy begets green energy. They are clearly on a green roll in Gorran High Lanes!
It is also worth noting that a working group of planners set up by the UK’s Department of Energy and Climate Change (DECC) is looking into how the planning system impacts community renewables and is due to report shortly. Yana Bosseva, a group member and RenewableUK’s planning advisor, says although overall the planning framework for wind turbines is positive towards renewables, including community-led schemes, the guidance and its wording is, she says “very fuzzy”. She suggests that this is leading to inconsistent decision-making. She says
“At the local level, planners lack awareness of the benefits for communities and there is some anti-windfarm sentiment amongst members. Planners check that wind farm applications are sound and comply with local plans, but when it gets to councilor level it gets a lot messier, especially if emotions start to interfere with logic.”
Adrian Lea, technical director of energy-from-waste provider Wardell Armstrong and a former local authority planner himself says developers of renewables have to be “pretty determined” and community groups often lack the time and the expertise. “If you are going to encourage communities to bring these schemes forward you have to incentivize and assist those people,” he says.
However, some Councils in England are more progressive than others- Cornwall in particular. They have already developed a loan fund for green energy schemes and are working on supplementary planning guidance to make the national policy on community renewables clear and encourage schemes in Cornwall.
We here at MWPS think that this is the way to go. for UK rural councils. We point to a city like Munich in Germany where hundreds of millions of euros per year can be generated from renewable energy. This would need a complete culture change in the UK where onshore turbines are seen as blights on the landscape – but Gorran High Lanes, seen below, shows it can be done!
