Agenda item

Installation of domestic vertical wind turbine at Overholme Farm, Main Road, Cutthorpe. (Resubmission of previously refused Application 22/00871/FL) (Amended Plans)

(Planning Manager – Development Management)

The report to Committee explained that a Planning Application had been submitted for the installation of a Domestic Wind Turbine at Overholme Farm, Main Road, Cutthorpe. The Application was a resubmission of Application NED 22/00871/FL, which had previously been refused and involved Amended Plans. The Application had been referred to Committee by Local Ward Member, Councillor M Thacker MBE, who had raised issues about it.

Planning Committee was recommended to reject the Application. The report to Committee explained the reasons for this.

Members were informed that under the National Planning Policy Framework the installation of wind turbines is only acceptable in areas specifically identified for them in the Development Plan.  As the District does not have such designated areas and so permission could not be granted for the turbine and in any case , the proposal would be inappropriate development in the Green Belt, which would impact adversely on the openness of the Green Belt. Officers did not believe that there were any special circumstances to offset this harm and so recommended that the Application should be rejected.

Before the Committee considered the Application, it heard from J Robinson, the Applicant and D Catton, who both spoke in support of the Application. No one spoke against the Application.

Committee considered the Application. It took into account the Principle of Development and the site’s location in the countryside, to the north of the defined settlement of Cutthorpe. It also took into account the relevant planning policies, including Local Plan Policy SDC10, and nthe circumstances when proposals for renewal energy would be permitted and Paragraph 158 of the National Planning Policy Framework on the circumstances when new wind energy installations would be permissible.

Members discussed the Application. They reflected on the as yet unadopted Brampton Parish Neighbourhood Plan, which would support small scale proposals for renewable and low carbon installations. Some Members highlighted the different circumstances in which the installation of the turbine would be permitted. They felt that the Application should be approved, given the potential carbon reduction benefits. Some Members regretted that no areas for wind energy had been designated, but felt that until this had happened for this location the installation would contravene planning policy.

At the conclusion of the discussion, Councillor M Rouse and T Lacey moved and seconded a Motion to refuse the Application. The Motion was put the vote and was agreed.

RESOLVED

That the Application is refused, in line with officer recommendations.

Reasons

1     Footnote 54 of the National Planning Policy Framework (NPPF) states that except for applications for the repowering of existing wind turbines, a proposed wind energy development involving one or more turbines should not be considered acceptable unless it is in an area identified as suitable for wind energy development in the development plan; and, following consultation, it can be demonstrated that the planning impacts identified by the affected local community have been fully addressed and the proposal has their backing.

Footnote 54 effectively precludes the installation of wind turbines in areas which are not identified in the development plan as being suitable for wind energy development.

In this case the development plan is the adopted North East Derbyshire Local Plan (2014-2034). The application site does not fall within an area identified as being suitable for wind energy development in the adopted North East Derbyshire Local Plan. Therefore, to grant permission for the proposed wind turbine would be contrary to the aims of the NPPF, specifically the requirements of Footnote 54.

2     The application site is located within the North East Derbyshire Green Belt. The construction of a wind turbine represents inappropriate development which is, by definition, harmful and it should not be approved except in very special circumstances.

The turbine would impact on the openness of the Green Belt and it is not considered there are any very special circumstances that outweigh the harm caused.

As such the application is considered unacceptable and contrary to policy SS10 of the North East Derbyshire Local Plan and the policies of the National Planning Policy Framework when read as a whole.