How a remote Welsh valley is under threat of being turned into an industrial zone. Read our story… and tell us yours!

Just a couple of years into our retirement my wife and I were enjoying a quiet and peaceful life in a remote Welsh valley. Then, in September of 2008, we had a knock on our door. The question our unexpected caller put to us was: ‘would you object to sound monitoring equipment to be placed in your garden in order to measure the natural sounds of your surroundings, your babbling stream for instance, to offset it… against what might well be the biggest on-shore wind farm in the U.K.?’
Since that day it has been a quick learning process for us. What has become clear is that there is no doubt whatsoever that turbines at close proximity can cause very serious sleep deprivation and that your house, certainly in such a remote spot as ours, may be virtually unsaleable. But what shocked us most of all was that these clearly indisputable facts are not only ignored by Planning Departments, Wind Farm developers and their consultants alike, but quite deliberately denied altogether!
Here, for instance, are the last three paragraphs of a letter we received from the Welsh Assembly Government’s Planning Department:

‘On the subject of what you perceive as property blight should the proposed wind farm development gain approval, there is no express statutory power to provide a mandatory compensation scheme in existence at the present time for individuals adversely affected by wind farm development in their locality.
No Government sponsored research has been undertaken into the matter of property blight as a result of wind farm installations, but from the ‘evidence’ available from public sources, such as the Royal Institute of Chartered Surveyors (UK), there appear to be no studies that suggest an effect either way. This pattern has been repeated at various operating wind farms in England, Wales and Scotland, where any evidence available demonstrates that wind farms have no material effect on house prices.
If individuals feel that they have evidence to substantiate a claim of property blight they are of course at liberty to seek legal redress through the courts.’

There is overwhelming evidence, scientific as well as circumstantial, that the above assertions are grossly untrue and that the ETSU-R-97 guidelines are totally out of date, certainly for the present generation of giant turbines of up to 145 metres, or 1.5x the height of Big Ben, so please sign the petition on: http://petitions.number10.gov.uk/ETSU-R97Failings/.
And more drastic action is urgently needed to demonstrate to the authorities once and for all that ‘property blight’ from wind farms is a real issue, which ought to be recognised and dealt with adequately. There ought to be a proper compensation scheme and we believe that there should be a mandatory minimum distance of 2 km at least between wind farm and houses.
So if you have wind turbines nearby and feel you have been unfairly treated, or if you believe you are about to become a wind farm victim, please let us have your story. Send a summary of your case to info@windfarmvictims.org.uk so we can compile a list. We’d like to hear from you whether you live in the U.K. or abroad, so we can add them to the testimonies we have already sent to the relevant Government Departments, the Media and in the first place, of course, to the Department of Energy and Climate Change.
We promise to keep all addresses and certainly all email addresses strictly confidential. However, when the summaries of your stories are submitted to Governmental Departments it would be useful if we could include your name and address. But please let us know if you wish to remain completely anonymous so we can respect your wishes. We aim to contact you within a few days after receiving your summary and will keep you informed from there on. We are looking forward to hearing from you.

Some myths about Wind Farms

Myth: Wind farms cause no noise problems.

Fact: Recent research carried out by the ‘Noise Association’ was based on far smaller wind farms, with lower turbines, than the ones presently in the planning. It is clear from the report that even the locations of these smaller wind farms have caused and are causing a great deal of suffering and distress. The report's recommendation of 1 mile minimum distance between dwellings and wind farm clearly applies to these smaller wind farms only. For the installation of the large, modern turbines they recommend a short moratorium 'until it is established, through trials, the amount of noise they actually emit'.

Myth: Wind farms do not harm property prices.

Fact: in 2004 a survey was carried out amongst its members by the Royal Institute of Chartered Surveyors: 60% of the sample suggested that wind farms decrease the value of residential properties where the development is within view and 67% indicated that the negative impact on property prices starts when a planning application to erect a wind farm is made'.
In 2007 the RICS took a look at a number of small developments in Cornwall. Though more positive, this latest report still states that there is ‘a significant impact on properties located within a mile of a Wind Farm,’ even in the case of very much smaller developments than the ones currently planned in Mid-Wales. The report suggests 'that wind farm developers themselves are avoiding the problem by locating their developments in places where the impact is minimized, carefully choosing their sites to avoid any negative impact on the locality'. This may have been the case in Cornwall, but with regard to the massive developments in Ceredigion and Powys it is hard to avoid the impression that developers and consultants are going out of their way to try and maximize the impact on the area by choosing locations of 1 km and closer from residential properties and by even going beyond their allocated TAN 8 boundaries!

Myth: wind farms pose no health risks.

Fact: Many (though not all) people who find themselves living near industrial wind turbines suffer sleep problems (insomnia), headaches, dizziness, unsteadiness, nausea, exhaustion, anxiety, anger, irritability, depression, memory loss, eye problems, problems with concentration and learning, tinnitus (ringing in the ears). According to a report by Dr Geoff Leventhall, a fellow of the Institute of Physics and Institute of Acoustics, 'Low-frequency noise causes extreme distress to a number of people who are sensitive to its effects.'
Research in Portugal published in May 2007 also demonstrates that wind turbines in the proximity of residential areas produce acoustical environments that can lead to the development of "Vibro-Acoustic Disease" in nearby home-dwellers.
The Danish government has now stopped erecting onshore turbines because of the health problems associated with noise.
What is quite clear from talking to people living near wind farms is that acoustic tests often fail to predict nuisance. It is not until the turbines are is up and running that the problems are revealed. The one and only solution is far greater distances between residential homes and turbines.

Myth: Opponents of Wind Farms are financed by the nuclear lobby!

Fact: If only! In truth we are all alone and with our backs against the wall. In all probability Wind Farms will prove to be a blessing in disguise for the Nuclear Industry! To give an example: the proposed 800 or so 140m high turbines which are to cover the hills of Mid-Wales between Aberystwyth in the west and Newtown in the east will generate no more than half the output of an average nuclear- or conventional plant. Failure to invest in more productive renewable alternatives will lead to serious shortage of supply when Conventional Power Stations need to be phased out. In future years this will, most likely, result in a hasty switch to nuclear. Hills filled with concrete, environment irreparably damaged, tourism lost, nothing gained.

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