Castle Farm development halted
Development of the Castle Farm wind turbine has unfortunately been halted this week due a legal dispute between the current and former owners of the farm. As a result we have been forced to cease all activity.
Naturally we are very disappointed that the scheme is now not going to be implemented since it would have bought valuable extra income to the Parish, provided the farm with badly needed financial stability and put East Farleigh on the map as an eco-village.
Full planning permission was granted in January 2011.
UPDATE (25/02/2011):
Since the Kent Messenger picked up on this story last week, Peter (the farmer) has received numerous calls and messages from friends and local residents who have expressed their disappointment that the project has been halted. It would seem the assertions by some that "no-one in the village wants it" were greatly exaggerated.
DistGen visit ACSA's factory in Gran Canaria
Staff from DistGen recently visited the production facility in Gran Canaria to meet the sales team from World Wide Wind Turbines and key service personnel from ACSA.Read more
Energy rationing coming to the UK?
Few if any will have heard of the All Party Parliamentary Group on Peak Oil and Gas (APPGOPO) however this group comprising over 20 MPs of all parties has met regularly since 2007 to research and debate policy on how best to transition the UK away from fossil fuels.Read more
Castle Farm Congratulations from Tory MP
In a letter from Maidstone Conservative MP Helen Grant, owner Peter Checkley is congratulated for his efforts to reduce carbon emissions through the proposal to install a mid-sized wind turbine on the farm.
The letter goes on to say:
I believe that wind power, if harnessed properly, can help to tackle climate change and create thousands of jobs.
We totally agree! The UK currently has no indigenous mid-size wind turbine manufacturers and this is something we want to change. We are working hard to put our own turbine, the DWP24 back into full production - combining the dual needs for manufacturing jobs and clean energy.
Wind power objectors will use all means - fair or foul
Some residents near to one of our community schemes apparently felt they were being almost press-ganged into signing a petition objecting to the project going ahead. Read more
Castle Farm Gains Support from the Green Party
This week the Maidstone branch of the Green Party have came out in support of the Castle Farm Community Turbine.
Stuart Jeffery, Maidstone Green Party: "We welcome this application, this type of locally owned renewable power generation is exactly what we should be doing across the country.
"The country is facing an energy crisis and while the government continues to back damaging and unsustainable fossil fuel sources, it is great to see ideas such as the Castle Farm turbine being proposed. Dist Gen and Castle Farm should be congratulated for their forward thinking."
Why we MUST change
Today the BBC is reporting that 1/5th of all plant species are now endangered. A select list of some 10,000 or so endangered animal species are listed here - the actual number is much greater.
We are living through one of the largest extinction events our planet has known.
We consume, pollute, over fish, de-forest and generally destroy the environment without connecting our own long term survival to the health of the plant. Worse still we're generally not even bothered so long as the effects are felt far away.
If one day you are lucky enough to have grand children and they ask what you did to help save the planet - what will you tell them?
Is Wind Really Very Inefficient?
This accusation that wind power is actually a rubbish source of renewable energy seems to never go away, so while not a full rebuttal, the figures for both Denmark and the UK are given blow plus the links to the original Government source documents.Read more
If you support wind - write to your MP now!
Simon Reevell (Tory MP for Dewsbury) has put down an early day motion calling for a 1.5 mile "buffer zone" between houses and wind turbines. If this were to become law renewable power in the UK would pretty much STOP DEAD.
East Farleigh & Coxheath Public Meetings (UPDATED)
Thursday evening saw approximately 30 villagers coming along to our public meeting with a mixed variety of views being expressed. On Friday we moved to Coxheath village hall with another 20 or so attendees. Both meetings had been publicised in local newspapers, Parish Council web sites and magazines plus the East Farleigh local news and Kent Messenger web sites. Slides from the main presentation can be found here.