Living near a wind turbine

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HaffiesRock

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Hi guys, I hope you can help my friends parents with a question. I have posted below and any input appreciated.

"Does anyone out there live near a windfarm? We are in the process of moving and have just discovered that there are plans to build a windfarm 1.25 Km away. I've looked on the internet and there seem to be health implications living nearby, including migraines due to shadow flashing as well as nausea and depression due to the constant whooshing sound. Not to mention the devastation caused by digging dirty great craters, destroying hedgerows to get the enormous lorries to the sight. We've got to make a decision whether to pull out of the sale or not"

I've posted here so they can read the replies.

Thanks
 
Can you visit a windfarm, or at least visit a site the same distance from one as you are thinking of buying? Also, can you renegotiate the price of the property? For myself, I love the sight of the turbines and the fact that they are producing clean, "free" energy, and I don't think it would bother me at that distance unless I had shadow flash into my south facing windows.
 
I'm near to Fullabrook 28 turbine site of the highest ones in England, nearest turbine 600 metres away, can see and hear 2 from stables but luckily house down over slope a bit so, unless wind in certain direction, don't really notice them, and if very high winds, they have to turn them off anyway. Horses not really bothered by them unless they clank and turn into the wind as we're passing, then they sometimes jump a bit if the blades start rotating towards them instead of parallel with them (if you see what I mean) Haven't gone along the byway that has turbines on both sides yet. A lot of people near us are disturbed by them though and they still haven't reduced the noise to what it should be - see this http://www.google.co.uk/url?sa=t&rc...nEv5gG&usg=AFQjCNF8N2A47XG-DMtO7As4tIEiuWjc1g
 
Regardless of any other issues, a wind turbine within sight will severely impact on the value of the property. If the fact of having a turbine nearby doesn't bother you, then I would be looking at a serious downward adjustment in the price I was willing to pay or pulling out of the deal if the buyer won't negotiate. It will also make the property much harder to sell again.
 
TTK said:
Regardless of any other issues, a wind turbine within sight will severely impact on the value of the property. If the fact of having a turbine nearby doesn't bother you, then I would be looking at a serious downward adjustment in the price I was willing to pay or pulling out of the deal if the buyer won't negotiate. It will also make the property much harder to sell again.
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down our way there was a big campaign against a wind farm and the planning feel through, the site has now been ear marked for fracking i know what i would prefer!

we use to have a some in the pony field, once they got over the shock then there never was a problem. i would have a look to see if you can find a farm close to you and pop down and have a look.
 
There are wind farms everywhere in my neck of the woods. I personally find myself quite entranced by them and also (having lived in some pretty polluted Asian countries where you cannot even see a mile away because the air is brown) like the idea that they produce clean energy.
That said, I wouldn't want to live immediately next door to one. We almost bought a property here that had wind turbines directly behind it up on the hill. They must have been well under a kilometer away but you could hear them only very faintly. We didn't buy the property because of other reasons in the end.
Have you visited the property in question to see if you can even hear them or if there are shadows flashing into the property? :)
 
Go on the planning application website. There will be a Visual Impact Assessment which will include mocked-up pictures of how it will look from various locations/distances. There will also be an assessment on the shadow/flicker so you will know if it is going to affect you. There will also be a Noise Assessment - so again you can see if it will affect you.

In terms of the vehicle movements, they are usually constructed over a relatively short space of time (the hole is dug and foundations are laid in about a week, then about a month later (when the concrete has dried) the construction vehicles/cranes and the components (tower/blades) will arrive. It is usually then erected in about a week. Once up, they only generate a couple of maintenance trips a year. That's per turbine... how many turbines will there be?
 
I love windfarms... I think they look beautiful in their way. I can imagine the sound being irritating if you are close enough to notice it but that's about it. You'd have to be very close for the shadows to be an issue. I would do as suggested above - go to within 1.25 km of one and just see what it's like. Then remember you'll have walls around you, of course, so the whole impact will be slightly diminished.
 
How close will they be? We have a large windfarm near us, the nearest turbine is probably 1 mile away. They are big 75ft ones and there's about 20 of them currently although plans have just been put in for seven 100ft ones - two of which will be even closer to us which is awful :( We don't get any flicker, you have to be nearer them to get that. I do hear the noise but to be honest it just sounds like a combine harvester going in the distance and if the wind is the other way I dont hear them at all. I hate the look of them so I'm very anti them. However, saying that it does mean I have lots of off-road hacking nearby IF I could be brave enough to ride up there under them (no idea what my horse would think of them as tracks go RIGHT under them). Definately get them to object, too many of these wind farms are put through very quietly - none of us were informed about this application even though it affects us and our homes value hugely! What annoys me the most is that the landowner isn't affected at all, he lives 5 miles away and can't even see them from his mansion - he already gets £10k a year PER turbine so he's already making £200k a year and now he wants seven more! What do we get? ****** all, be nice if we were offered free electricity for example - would be nothing for them to provide and at least we'd get something out of the massive inconvenience of putting up with them. And dont get me started on the mess they'll make of the narrow road I have to use every day - they've already CLOSED a bridge just down from me for the past SIX WEEKS because they're already widening it in preparation for the turbines being brought in (even though planning not even passed but we all know it will be). I've had 16 extra miles to do a day because of it and 20 extra mins each way! Peed off doesn't come close!
 
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How far has the wind farm got so far? If it hasn't yet had planning permission approved then you may be worrying for nothing. The government have/withdrawing subsidies for wind farms (you can google for more info) and this will affect any wind farm that doesn't yet have planning, so they most likely won't be built.

We found out after buying our property that a wind farm had been approved less than 1km away from us and they are the huge turbines (I think they were 400ft), despite it being so close to us, the development never appeared on any searches done on the property and we are in direct view of the site (we are rural and nothing between us and the site).

I would do some more research before pulling out of your sale just yet. Hope you have good news. xx
 
As a local BHS access officer I have been involved in commenting to the planning department and the developers on proposed wind farms in my area. Main issues as far as horse riders are concerned is the moving shadows they cast on the ground, blinding sunshine being reflected from the blades, ice being propelled off the blades in Winter, the background noise. The construction phase involves building an access road and then heavy goods vehicles used in the build of them. Some horses just can not cope with them while others get used to them.
 
We have one on our shooting ground. I was walking the dogs under it at the weekend and I could only hear it when very close, by the other side of the field I couldn't hear it anymore.

We've also had a hunt meet almost underneath it (otherside of the hedge,about 25m away). Nothing got upset by it.

I have no feelings in either direction on them
 
We have several of the smaller 'large' turbines which are privately owned near us, although we can see 3 windfarms in the distance from our property. The horses have only ever reacted to the shadows cast by a small household device which is at a lower level, because the shadows flicker on a house wall at a junction.
 
3 large private turbines have gone up probably no more than half a mile as-the-crow-flies from the yard. Never aware of hearing them to be honest. I've hacked the road nearby and pony initially looked suspiciously at the shadow from the blade moving along the surface towards us but soon didn't care. Quite by chance I was talking to YO about them the other day - she mentioned that the shadows fall across her front room on bright days which she finds very irritating - her only option is to shut the curtains and block the rare Scottish sunlight out :(
 
We have lots of turbines in our area, and yes, although i'll admit we do we own one of them, they really don't bother me - in fact I quite like watching them.

What does bother me are the increase in massive ugly pylons we'll be getting for a new super power line being put up, when we have three rows in front of our house already.
 
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