Petition against wind farm hits 10,000 signatures

Campaigners against proposals to build the largest onshore wind farm in England on a swathe of West Yorkshire moorland said their petition has hit its target of 10,000 signatures.

Campaign group Stronger Together to Stop Calderdale Wind Farm said they were "delighted" that so many people have signed their petition to Parliament.

The group wants to stop plans to build 41 turbines on land at Walshaw Moor near Hebden Bridge.

Calderdale Energy Park, the company behind the development, said the farm would be capable of generating enough electricity to power about 250,000 homes a year.

The firm recently started a non-statutory consultation over the proposals, after it reduced the number of turbines planned for the site.

However, campaigners said they feared protected peatland would still be affected by the scheme, according to the Local Democracy Reporting Service.

Penny Price, a member of the campaign group, said that replacing the peatland with the turbines was "counterproductive".

"It's an irreplaceable habitat so once you have destroyed peat, you've destroyed it for a thousand years," she said.

"Although what you see on the hill tops on the horizon are these fabulous massive turbines, there is a huge amount of infrastructure which has to go in for the development.

"All this infrastructure is very destructive to the peatland."

Calderdale Energy Park previously said the scheme "presents a key opportunity to support the government's target to achieve at least 95% of low carbon energy generation by 2030".

The firm said the project could reduce national CO2 emissions by approximately 354,000 tonnes each year.

Government responds to all petitions that get more than 10,000 signatures.

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