OPEN SPACES SOCIETY

NEWS RELEASE

OPEN SPACES SOCIETY PLEASED THAT SOUTH TAWTON WIND-TURBINE HAS BEEN REJECTED

The Open Spaces Society,⁽¹⁾ Britain’s oldest national conservation body, is pleased that West Devon District Council has rejected a planning application for a wind turbine on the edge of the Dartmoor National Park at South Tawton, Devon.

The turbine, 67 metres high to the blade tip, was to be sited close to Spitlar House Farm.  The council’s reasons for rejecting the application from Murex Energy Ltd included ‘the significant visual impact upon the surrounding landscape character of the area with significant impact upon the special character of the Dartmoor National Park.’

The objectors included the Dartmoor National Park Authority, South Tawton Parish Council, English Heritage, CPRE Devon, the Dartmoor Preservation Association, the Open Spaces Society, the South Tawton Wind Turbine Action Group and 199 others.

Says Kate Ashbrook, general secretary of the Open Spaces Society: ‘We are delighted at this outcome.  We objected because of the damaging effect the monstrous structure and its associated paraphernalia would have on this sensitive landscape, close to the Dartmoor National Park.  They would have had an adverse effect on people’s enjoyment of the area and impinge on the views from public rights of way, including the Tarka Trail and Two Moors Way long-distance routes.’

ENDS

Notes for editors

1.         The Open Spaces Society was founded in 1865 and is Britain’s oldest national conservation body.  It campaigns to protect common land, village greens, open spaces and public paths, and people’s right to enjoy them.