Residents give thumbs-up to wind turbine on Hackney Marshes

Artist
Residents have overwhelmingly said ‘yes’ to the idea of having a wind turbine on Hackney Marshes to generate green energy.
In response to the Council’s recent public consultation, 87 per cent said they were in favour of the proposal.
The Olympic Delivery Authority (ODA) is already going ahead with one wind turbine on Eton Manor in Waltham Forest, and as part of this there is an opportunity for Hackney Council to install a second wind turbine at East Marsh to generate local renewable energy as part of the legacy of the 2012 Games.
If a wind turbine is put on East Marsh, the two wind turbines together could generate enough green electricity to power Hackney’s main council buildings and nearly all of its street lighting, according to a Council spokesperson.
Jules Pipe, Mayor of Hackney, said, “At the beginning of the consultation I said that, although I was enthusiastic about the idea, it would be for Hackney residents to decide if the proposal was to be taken forward.
“As 87 per cent are in favour, of the more than 700 people who took part, the Council will now look at the next stages to make this idea a reality.
“Although minimising energy usage is the highest priority, this is an opportunity to generate truly local green energy to power things for the community. It would also deliver a further cut in carbon emissions, helping to keep Hackney one of the greenest boroughs in London.”
Mayor Pipe added, “A key stage to come will be for any chosen turbine operator to satisfy the planning authorities that there will be a minimal impact on the environment, such as wildlife.”
The Council is expecting to be able to purchase energy at a cost lower than traditional sources, such as coal. It also expects to receive rent for the land the turbine would occupy, which would be invested in sports facilities on the Marshes.
The Council will now begin a procurement process with the aim of buying power generated by both turbines, for up to 25 years.
If a good deal can be secured, the Council will move to the next stage. The chosen turbine operator would then have to submit a detailed planning application for the proposed East Marsh turbine, giving residents a further chance to comment.
Background
Hackney Council ran the public consultation from 19 October to 14 December 2009. 712 people took part in the consultation. Read the consultation report here.
The consultation questionnaire asked respondents to give their view on the proposal to put a wind turbine on East Marsh by responding to the three statements (below). They were also given the opportunity to make comments on their responses, and to suggest how Hackney can become a greener borough.
• I would support the wind turbine if the electricity generated can be used in Hackney for the benefit of the local community
• I would support the wind turbine regardless of where the electricity is used
• I would not support the wind turbine proposal under any circumstances
Wind turbines are about 120m tall and the rotors about 80m across. They have a narrow stem but require an exclusion zone of 80m. Its base would be underground and could be grassed over.
The Council says that the turbine would not impact on sports on the Marshes: after the Games, East Marsh will get new playing fields as planned and the turbine would not reduce the number of pitches planned to be provided (ten pitches after the Games).
East Marsh will temporarily be used for coach parking and parking for disabled visitors during the Games. It will remain in use for football until May 2011, returning by late 2013.
During this time, teams will be able to play on pitches on North and South Marsh which the Council says will undergo major improvements from 2009-2011.
There is a legal agreement in place between Hackney Council and the London Development Agency (LDA) to ensure East Marsh is returned in good condition for football.
The LDA has put into an account a sum of money equivalent to the cost of returning the fields to playing condition. This money is either returned to the LDA when the Council is satisfied the fields are in a suitable condition, or is used by the Council to carry out the works in default.
According to the Council, extensive bird and bat surveys have been carried out to ensure that there will be no significant impact on ecology within the East Marsh area. Proposed mitigation measures include extending the habitat corridor around East Marsh, using an access track design that allows vegetation to grow through and widening the habitat corridor on South and North Marsh.
Planning applications from potential operators of the turbine would need to include full Environmental Impact Assessments to ensure minimal effects on wildlife.
The Council says that noise levels have been tested, and that noise the turbine would make if it were on East Marsh would be less than local traffic. Tests for shadows of the moving blades show that the wind turbine would not interfere with football and other sports being played on the Marshes.
Previous story here.
Someone said wind turbines are good for the environment.
What does this mean? Do they improve the environment? Do they change a bad environment into a good environment?
One turbine on Hackney Marshes could change the way we feel or don’t feel about the environment forever. Please read on:
Climate change is one gigantic effect; an event; a happening! It comes as a result of many, many activities, but mainly it is just those ‘things that people do’ that changes our world.
Will it be possible to persuade people to change their behaviour and the things that they do in order to save their own breathing and living space?
Who can be trusted to do the persuading? Is their anyone who does not have their own axe to grind; their own power or career or personal fortune to expand?
The most honest and persuasive character, along-side of us in this situation is Mother Nature herself.
The free space of an open blue sky and the green busy work of nature in trees, meadows and grassland say more about the meaning and value of life than any lecture or tele-ad campaign.
We have a small piece of countryside on our doorstep which is capable of speaking to us and our children about these matters.
It is Hackney Marshes, which seem so much bigger than they really are because they are part of the greater Lea Marshes. They are misrepresented as a collection of football pitches but that is only a small part of their glory.
The open free space of sky and countryside of the Lea Marshes is about to be split and bound by towers of concrete and steel.
High-rise building projects are planned, courtesy of Waltham Forest Council, which will divide the marshes and dominate the skyline of the south and north end of Hackney Marshes.
Residents of the new tower blocks will be grateful for the views they enjoy. Developers will profit from the last bounce of the housing bubble in this part of the world, but what of the wind turbine which will dominate the skies?
I fear that the slim beauty of the turbine that we once saw as a symbol of hope and an alternative future will become a symbol of domination. As the landscape dwindles under its mighty span we will feel the chilly shadows of a new kind of eco-fundamentalism.
This new religion will have money behind it and it is ready primed to persuade us that we must sacrifice the places we love in order to survive in a place we don’t recognise.
The case for the Hackney wind turbine is bogus!
If you place one more turbine on the Essex flood plain a very clever man will push the electricity from the turbine into a cable and the electricity will pop out of the other end of that cable when it reaches Hackney.
Here is just part of the case against it:
1) The site for the turbine is common land, control of land will be handed over to a private interest energy company or companies.
2)The turbine could be sited anywhere else and the energy transmitted by cable to Hackney in the normal way.
3) A series of smaller turbines would generate the same energy without dominating the skyline.
4) Hackney Marshes and the greater Lea Marshes still provide an experience of a rural environment in close proximity to very dense housing conurbations. The open horizens and ‘big sky’ are a key element of this. A towering structure, combined with large-scale housing developments through the Lea Marshes will destroy this forever.
5) Mental health problems are suffered by very large numbers of people in the borough, and depression is now being recognised aa a much more widespread problem than previously recorded. Recovery from these conditions along with M.E. [Myalgic Encephalopathy/Chronic Fatigue Syndrome/Post Viral Fatigue Syndrome] and a whole variety of stress related illnesses is improved when sufferers have the opportunity to enjoy the experience of an outdoor natural, semi-rural environment.
6) The leisure and recreation opportunities of this open space have barely begun to be developed by schools & other learning groups. A small sample study by University College London in the adjacent housing estate revealed that children and play-workers have no experience of, and know almost nothing about ‘cost free’ types of play and recreation in natural free-space.
7) While many are content to use their motor cars to take their children to the seaside or other wide open spaces, the people who cannot afford to travel are not being informed of the benefits that lie on their doorstep. The majority of Hackney residents know very little about the Marshes other than the football pitches. The council seems content to reinforce this narrow idea.
The choice between football and the environment is a cruelly false one. It disguises the take-over of common land by private companies. It plays on people’s capacity to surrender something for the greater good.
For shades of things to come, go to Millfields Recreation Ground E5, and see the land …[occupied]… by the National Grid and EDF by their redeveloped power station.
Wind turbines are iconic, beautiful and powerful political symbols, but, just like the Statue of Liberty, siting and context are everything. This turbine could be an albatross around the neck of the green movement for generations to come.
‘Greens’ must not forget the inter-connectedness of nature and society. A small change in one part can send a ripple of changes through everything. A turbine here may be a symbol of victory for them today. What will it mean in 2013 when we count the cost of the Olympics?
If Hackney schools were teaching children the pleasures and the meaning of the enjoyment of the countryside, those same children would eventually be spending more time outdoors and less time indoors with the heating thermostat at maximum while they play at ‘virtual outdoors’ electronic games.
This policy would also fit with the Government ‘Horizons’ project. This scheme aims to reduce personal depression among the adult population by ensuring that children have meaningful emotional experiences.
There are no fast profits to be had, and there are limited political gains in the quiet enjoyment of natural free-space; perhaps there are some healthy gains, though, for the ecology and well-being of our shared world and a growth in direct knowledge of its precious fragility.