Scout Moor Wind Farm - History

History

In England, scout hills are long ridges of rock, appearing to be "shot out" horizontally. Scout is a corruption of the Old English sceot, meaning "shot" or "to shoot", suggesting Anglo-Saxon settlement in the locality at a very ancient time. Kinder Scout in Derbyshire shares this etymology. The village of Shuttleworth, to the immediate west of Scout Moor, derives its name from Sceot-hulls-worth, meaning "dwelling-place by the Scout hills".

Although the UK Government has set a target of 10% for the proportion of the UK's electricity produced by renewable energy by 2010, wind power in the UK has a long history of controversy, with an average approval rate for planning permission of only 28% for onshore wind farms. Scout Moor was first identified as an excellent site for a wind farm in 2001. Peel Holdings commissioned market research consultants MORI to undertake a telephone poll over seventeen days in 2002, soliciting the opinions of residents in Bury, Rossendale and Rochdale about wind farms in general and Scout Moor in particular. The results showed that 88% of respondents thought wind farms were a very or fairly good idea, 72% thought the Scout Moor project was a very or fairly good idea, and 63% stated wind power as the preferred energy source.

The proposal to build a wind farm, in a joint venture between United Utilities and Peel Holdings, was announced in 2003. Shortly afterwards a pressure group, The Friends of Scout and Knowle Moor, was formed, and on 9 September 2003 representatives of the group attended a meeting of the Metropolitan Borough of Bury's, Ramsbottom and Tottington Area Board to oppose the plans. At the meeting, the spokesperson for the group said that, although they supported the use of alternative energy, they felt that this was the wrong area. Among the objections were that the scheme was contrary to the Unitary Development Plan and the Green Belt, and would adversely affect common land, open countryside and areas of ecological importance and special landscape value. The group also considered that the proposed development would be out of scale with the landscape, adversely affecting peat, water courses and wildlife, and would have a seriously detrimental visual impact, as well as causing a noise nuisance.

The second presentation was given by a representative of Scout Moor Wind Farm, who argued the need for Britain to produce clean green power without harmful emissions, to counter the increasing dangers of global warming. He went on to say that the UK has fewer wind farms than other major industrial countries in Europe, even though it is a windier country, and that North West England has a particularly poor record, with only 1.3% of electricity generated from renewable energy. Following this meeting the campaign to oppose the proposal gathered momentum, and in November 2003 a protest was held on the moor, led by environmental campaigner Professor David Bellamy.

Although Bury Metropolitan Borough Council supported the proposal, objections were raised by Lancashire County Council, Rochdale Metropolitan Borough Council and Rossendale Borough Council, and a public enquiry was held in November and December 2004. The Secretary of State for Trade and Industry gave formal consent to the application for the development of the wind farm in May 2005, by which time United Utilities had sold their share in the project and ended their involvement. A number of conditions were imposed:

Under section 106 of the Town and Country Planning Act (1990) the applicant will be required to establish a habitat management plan. Other conditions have been placed on the development including that:

• Access tracks to all areas to and around the turbine bases shall remain unfenced. Access will be allowed on the site for the whole of the life of the development for members of the public and grazing stock.
• Construction will take place outside the bird nesting season.
• A survey will take place to establish the presence of badgers in the area before development takes place.
• No development shall take place until there is a full archaeological investigation.

More conditions have been attached to the consent and various surveys and assessments must be carried out by the applicant before development can commence.

On 20 April 2006, Janet Anderson (Member of Parliament for Rossendale and Darwen) asked Margaret Beckett, then Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, whether the development would meet the provisions of the Commons Bill regarding the protection of and public access to common land. The reply from Jim Knight, (Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Rural Affairs, Landscape and Biodiversity) was that "hese applications are made under section 147 of the Inclosure Act 1845. Consideration is given under these provision to the effect of the exchange on the general public's legal right of access over the land. The future provisions in the Commons Bill are not relevant."