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The Bradworthy Wind Turbines
Councillor
Christie's Weblog
From your Torridge District Councillor Peter Christie
Previous entries
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13th April '08
Readers may recall me writing about a plea for Torridge District Council
to support and encourage DML, the current owners of Appledore shipyard,
becoming involved in the construction and maintenance work that will
be generated by the development of offshore wind turbines in the Bristol
Channel. Councillors finally got around to examining practical steps
at the last meeting of the Community Development Committee. Various ideas
were put forward from the assembled members but all of us were rather
taken aback when councillor Geoff Lee remarked that his brother-in-law
John Hutton had been looking into the possibilities connected with the
so-called Atlantic Array of offshore turbines. This was a wonderfully
casual ‘name drop’ as Mr.Hutton is currently the government’s
Secretary of State for Business, Enterprise and Regulatory Reform! He
is also the MP for Barrow-in-Furness and extremely keen on nuclear power
what with Sellafield being just round the corner from his constituency.
Last week of course he was roundly attacked by many for his rather rose-tinted
view of a nuclear future for Britain. I say all this as I for one would
have to wonder at his commitment to renewable energy. Further surprises
came when councillor Phil Collins said he understood that DML had already
constructed an underwater turbine – and the Chief Executive of
Torridge, John van de Laarschot, referring to offshore wind turbines
added that Torridge is already working with Devon county council and
the Regional Development Agency to ‘maximise any advantages accruing
from this sort of development in the Bristol Channel’. It is always
interesting what one learns at council meetings!
Incidentally, given that the government, courtesy of Mr. Hutton, now seems to
be going all out for a new generation of nuclear power stations I look forward
to all those vociferous opponents of wind turbines writing letters to the Journal in
support of nuclear facilities here in North Devon – after all I haven’t
forgotten all those strong rumours/stories about the redevelopment of the old
Yelland power station site for nuclear production some years ago! There again
on second thoughts I better not hold my breath.
Those interested in the future of the Bideford Heritage Railway site at East-the-Water will know how recent moves have seen them facing a desolate future. Since then there have been persistent rumours that the future presence of the North Devon Coast and Countryside Service in the old station is under threat. I raised this at the same meeting as the one above and was told that yes this was true – and that North Devon District Council had already offered them alternative accommodation. Some councillors did, however, ask how much we paid them each year and was it good value for money or not? Personally I think it would be a great pity to lose the team currently based there as they run the Tarka Trail, the Biosphere and the Areas of Outstanding Natural Beauty in this area. My plea to keep them in Bideford received a lot of support and it was suggested we might offer them a new home in council premises in Allhalland Street. We are now awaiting a further report on the whole affair. If they do move out one has to wonder what would happen to the old station buildings. I am aware there have been problems with water getting in but would hope that no-one suggests demolishing them given their history and wide scope for re-use. As always we await the future with interest.
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