Single turbine plan for Purbeck quarry (From Thisisdorset)

Single turbine plan for Purbeck quarry

5:30pm Monday 13th February 2012 in Latest

A NEW wind turbine application for Purbeck’s Masters Quarry will be lodged with district planners, the Daily Echo can reveal.

The existing four-turbine Alaska wind farm project, dismissed by Purbeck District Council last year, goes before a government planning inspector in April. However, this latest application, lodged by Holme Sand and Ballast LLP, the firm operating the quarry, is for a single turbine only.

If the government inspector rules in favour of the Alaska wind farm, the additional single turbine will not be erected, says quarry owner Will Bond.

Mr Bond, who is a partner in the Alaska wind farm scheme, said: “The wind turbine that we are proposing is not as large a project as Alaska wind farm, now in appeal.

“However, it would have the capacity to meet a large proportion of the electricity we need at the quarry. Any surplus electricity will feed into the local distribution network so it won’t be lost.”

The latest application is for a turbine 102m tall, from ground to blade tip, compared to the quartet of 125m turbines under appeal.

Terry Stewart, president of Dorset Campaign to Protect Rural England, said: “The Dorset Against Rural Turbines group and the CPRE deplore this revised application.”