Linton News, June 2008
Dear Editor,
I am writing about the proposed [Linton] wind farm. Until recently I didn’t really have a strong view; I felt maybe it was not a great look for our beautiful village. However, our children are the future and we need to look after their environment.
Unfortunately a week away in Norfolk has changed my mind. We stayed on the seafront by a wind farm in the sea. We found it extremely noisy day and night (the wind farm is two miles out to sea). The turbines are visible from several miles before you reach the sea front, and, quite honestly, they were so much of a disruption that we actually cut our week short and returned back to a very quiet and beautiful Linton after just two very sleepless nights.
If we have a wind farm within the village, not only will it look extremely ugly from miles away but it could be incredibly noisy. It’s a dull and aching noise that is impossible to move away from without going many miles out of the way. If people who believe this is the way forward for Linton have never seen/heard a wind farm, I suggest they visit one, stand several miles away from it and ask the question “Is this really what Linton needs?”
I am not against renewable energy. I think it is fantastic, however we need to place these wind farms very carefully ie out at sea, in deserted fields and not near houses.
I truly believe that before the people of Linton form a strong opinion on this, they need to view a working and active wind farm first and not make a judgment on pictures and statistics.
Name and address supplied.
Cambs Times, 25 January 2008
Did wind turbine at Whitemoor contribute to suicides?
Noise from a wind turbine next to Whitemoor Prison- which the Home Office warned posed an “unacceptable risk” to psychologically disturbed prisoners - may have contributed to five suicides in the past year.
The claim was made today (Fri) by anti wind turbine protestor and retired planning officer Trevor Watson who fought the original plan six years ago. He has written to the Governor of the Fenland prison, Steven Rodford, and Home Secretary Jacqui Smith calling for a recently appointed investigation team probing the suicides to look at possible links with the turbine.
Mr Watson quoted from the original Home Office opposition to the 67 metre wind turbine which claimed psychological damage could be caused by noise and sub audible electromagnetic interference which could cause depression and even physical injury.
Alan Devlin, a Home Office civil servant, claimed that the “risk is unacceptable for a captive audience, some with psychological problems, that is unable to leave the area.”
Mr Watson now wants the Home Office and David Watson, the professor of criminology from Birmingham heading up the suicide investigation, to re-open the files on the wind turbine built just 200 metres from the prison which houses 450 inmates. Mr Watson said: “Whitemoor is, effectively, a village and there’s no way had it been a normal village would you have allowed it to be built there. I know there are criminals housed there, but they have rights too. I live 10 times further away from the turbine than the prisoners but I can hear the whoosh, whoosh, thumping of the turbine at nights and it annoys me.
“It seems to me there is the possibility of this being a Chinese sort of drip drip drip torture. I’m not saying the turbines have caused the problems but I think it is a serious area and worth exploring.”
Mr Watson said there were many reported cases across the country of people suffering health related problems caused by the turbine blade noises “and in confined spaces, such as prisons, additional noise from these turbines blades could be a real problem.
By John Elworthy
Mr Watson also stated: "I live 10 times further away (2km) from the turbines than the prisoners but I can hear the whoosh, whoosh, thumping of the turbine at nights and it annoys me."