A scheme to build a community wind turbine in mid Cornwall is set to go to planning after receiving the required amount of public support to move forward.
The Low Carbon Ladock co-operative and Green Trust CIC, the organisations behind the proposed installation of the 500-800 kW turbine, carried out a survey of all households in Ladock and Grampound Road, near Truro, to gauge support for the project.
When up and running it is estimated the wind turbine will generate around a third of the electricity used each year by homes and businesses in the parish and at least £30k per year for the local community.
A total of 633 questionnaires were sent to households in the parish with 308 being returned to independent market research company, PFA Research.
Of those returnees, 56% were in favour of the community wind turbine, 42% against and 2% declined to answer the question.
Overall, 27% of households in the parish responded with a ‘yes’, 20% with a ‘no’, while 52% did not respond.
Low Carbon Ladock’s Chris Jones, said: “The co-operative were quite clear that if we did not achieve a 55% yes vote then we would not even submit the planning application.
“It is great to have passed that benchmark meaning that we can now move forward to the planning process, but we must remember that it is the planning system that will really determine whether the community turbine will go ahead.”
For more information on the project, click here.
