Yorkshire company secures £1m of new wind turbine locations

Yorkshire-based company Earthmill, which specialises in the supply, installation and maintenance of wind turbines, has secured approval for three new farm-scale wind turbine installations worth over £1m across the country.

After starting in managing director Steve Milner’s garage in 2009, Earthmill currently employs 34 people at its headquarters in Wetherby and has now installed over 200 small scale turbines in the last six years.

The company’s three new turbine’s will be located in Keighley in West Yorkshire, St Stephen in Cornwall and Kendal just outside of the Lake District.

Before securing consent for the latest trio of turbines, Earthmill ran into an array of obstacles including a long public debate in Cornwall which comprised of over 50 email and telephone conversations with members of the local community, parish council, ward councillor and the local school.

The position of the turbine in Cornwall also had to be changed twice before a location was agreed on.

Sam Dewar, senior planner at Earthmill said: “There is a growing recognition of the important role played by the small-scale wind turbines that are being installed across the country, both in terms of the contribution they make in reducing the UK’s reliance on fossil fuels, but also the opportunity they offer farmers to diversify and gain a valuable – and sustainable – additional income stream.”

He added: “Although relatively small farm-scale turbines are embraced by many people, the journey to successfully gaining planning consent to install a turbine can be a long and arduous one and it’s essential to have an experienced team on your side.”

Further concerns were voiced over the noise of the blades on the turbine, and therefore the Earthmill planning team worked alongside side the local environmental health officer to modify the ‘noise report’ a total of six times.

Terry Fort of Brighton House Farm, Keighley, said: “Earthmill’s planning team have the experience to know that it is worth seeing a project through and that, with know-how and tenacity, planning hurdles can be cleared. We were really impressed with their willingness to go the extra mile for us during the whole, complex process.”

He added: “We are over the moon to have finally received planning permission and once we get the turbine up and generating electricity it will help cut the farm’s fuel bills as well as enabling us to do our bit for the environment.”