Stars say Suffolk wind farm plans 'anything but green'

Dame Joanna Lumley has warned that the creation of two windfarms off the Suffolk coast could see the area "disappear under a sea of concrete".

The actress is one of 17 people, including actor Ralph Fiennes and comedian Griff Rhys Jones, who signed a letter stating the windfarms were "anything but green".

ScottishPower Renewables said the farms could power about 1.4 million homes.

Decisions on development consent are due by 31 March.

The two proposed farms would have up to 142 turbines in total and power cables would come to shore in the Thorpeness area, just north of Aldeburgh.

The letter, published in The Times, said the plans for the sites, named East Anglia One North and East Anglia Two, were "destructive".

The main concerns presented in the letter were about the building of onshore substations and the running of underground cables to transport the electricity from turbines.

It stated there would be "six further towering structures, sacrificing land at Snape, close to the 6th Century Anglo-Saxon cemetery and home of Benjamin Britten's Snape Maltings Concert Hall".

The signatories said it would be preferential to "pivot to offshore integrated cabling to brownfield sites".

The letter said the plans "threaten fragile ecosystems, diverse wildlife, Aldeburgh and the thriving local tourist economy".

"Planned industrialisation on this scale is a national issue and anything but green," it said.

A spokesperson for ScottishPower Renewables said it had "undertaken significant consultation and engagement with local stakeholders and communities" in relation to the two windfarms.

"We've continued to listen to local communities and stakeholders and take account of their feedback, adapting designs accordingly.

"This extends to our considered efforts to protect the local environment and minimise the potential onshore impacts of the construction programme."

Ralph Fiennes was born in Ipswich and recently starred in The Dig about the Sutton Hoo Anglo Saxon finds, while Griff Rhys Jones has a home on the Stour estuary and has regularly campaigned against development in rural areas.

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