Oswaldtwistle Moor
 

Anyone seen what they are doing up there at the moment? Trucks, diggers, concrete, tracks all over the place.

I'm surprised there wasn't more opposition to the wind farm before it was built.

Re: Oswaldtwistle Moor
 

Been watching this for weeks now, ToffeeGuy, but only from a distance.
Is it going to be the road up to the Wind Farm ? I thought further over than where they are.

Must say, those construction workers have really earned their money. Non-stop in the most horrendous of weathers.

There was plenty of opposition at the time.

Re: Oswaldtwistle Moor
 

I wish they would keep the road mud free, its been very slippery at times.

Re: Oswaldtwistle Moor
 

Is that the Grane Road ?

Re: Oswaldtwistle Moor
 

Hassy old road I think it is called but I have seen the mud down New Lane and the cars parked were filthy because of it

Re: Oswaldtwistle Moor
 

Mmmm.... doesn't appear to come down to Haslingden Old Road. Access appears to be off Grane Road. Will have to go and have a nose.

New Lane ? Just seems a long way away from this site.

Re: Oswaldtwistle Moor
 

The ideal opportunity for some enterprising young (or old) entrepreneur, with a bucket & a cloth ! :D

Re: Oswaldtwistle Moor
 

It must be Haslingden Old Rd - I saw the dustclouds on the skyline from my kitchen window.

Re: Oswaldtwistle Moor
 

I think it is going to be a permanent service road up to the wind farm and several tracks up there as well. Looking at the example of Scout Moor, it will be yet another slice of countryside becoming semi industrialised.

I am amazed that local residents and heritage groups haven't tried to block this. Open moorland is no place for dumper trucks and diggers. The peat must be a sensitive habitat, as it is at the moment it spoils the walk over to the Grane reservoirs.

Re: Oswaldtwistle Moor
 

Found this
Hyndburn Wind Farm - Welcome to the Hyndburn Wind Farm website

location is between Hassy old rd and the Grane Rd - access from hassy old rd

PS http://www.accringtonweb.com/forum/f...one-30854.html

Re: Oswaldtwistle Moor
 

Could be something else, Margaret. My view is from down Pot House Lane, and this construction does not appear to be off Haslingden Old Road (of which there is a good view) ... too far up. It goes up, bends and along as far as the Weather mast, and beyond now. Started to disappear over the horizon.

Really bad to tell though from such a distance.

Re: Oswaldtwistle Moor
 

Come on Kate we rely on you to have a look take photos and report back:D

Re: Oswaldtwistle Moor
 

The official website shows the map, and access from Hassy Old Rd

http://www.hyndburnwindfarm.co.uk/me...very_large.gif

http://www.hyndburnwindfarm.co.uk/wind_farm_layout/

Re: Oswaldtwistle Moor
 

I will, but access does show on that link from Haslingden Old Road. Maybe the earlier construction is not in view from where I have been watching, but has definitely moved a lot further up now from this road.

My friend and I have been speculating about this for weeks now, so better go and take a look to satisfy our curiosity .. LOL.

Re: Oswaldtwistle Moor
 

works entrance to it is on hassy old road and teh last time i passed there was temp lights at it but havnt been that far down for a week now so cant say for sure

Re: Oswaldtwistle Moor
 

I was held up at the temporary lights where the entrance to the site is. When I set of again I followed two mucky tippers which came from the site all the way down New Lane and through Church lights and they went up Whinney hill as I turned left at the Greyhound lights.
I was later told they had thousands of tons of hard core to take from Whinney Hill quarry to the site but no information on what they are doing up there.

Re: Oswaldtwistle Moor
 

So, what is the point to this thread anyway. Just grumbling that there is a road being constructed for access to the Wind Farm and to get equipment up there.

Bound to be a bit of a mess for a while, isn't there ?

Once built and operating, all the dumper trucks and machinery will go and be forgotten. Can't see much traffic going up there on a daily basis.

Decision has been made .... was plenty of chances to object. Get over it.

Re: Oswaldtwistle Moor
 

I noticed how dirty the top of New Lane was round the bends at the top where it becomes Duckworth Hill Lane this morning. The trucks you saw explain why the road and the cars are so dirty.

Re: Oswaldtwistle Moor
 

Maybe now you will believe that the electrical system in my car seized up last summer due to dust. I had a building site next door!

Re: Oswaldtwistle Moor
 

I can't remember the details but suspect your car problems are mainly due to lack of use. Your alternator/starter motor could fill up with dust but less likely if it was used more often.

Re: Oswaldtwistle Moor
 

Murphy's Mob is doing the groundwork - sounds Irish to me.

The wind turbines used to be made on the Isle of Wight until a European Company bought it up, closed it down and took the work to the continent.

If we remember right there was a sit-in demonstration at the Isle of Wight site, but it made no difference.

Barry & Sheila

Re: Oswaldtwistle Moor
 

Back in 1989 when planning the Great Oswaldtwistle walk we where refused permission to walk across the moors, along the boundary with Haslingden, because we would disturb the nesting birds.
I am sure that this is much more disturbing than 150 people walking in one day.
Photos of the destruction of Oswaldtwistle moors.
Attachment 19457

Attachment 19458

Attachment 19459

Taken on 6 April

Re: Oswaldtwistle Moor
 

Good point, looks like a moonscape, and it expands beyond the moors, the stuff removed from the site has to travel right across the borough to be tipped, with all the mess and traffic problems.

Just remember when it is active harnessing the wind we will all have cheap energy...........I don't think !

Re: Oswaldtwistle Moor
 

Don't the land owners get subsidies to build wind-farms - which are pretty rubbish source of electricity. There was a program that said wind farms are being built because Tony Blair signed an EU agreement that the UK would produce a certain percentage of it's energy by renewable means - this is why we are having these things built now! :D

Re: Oswaldtwistle Moor
 

the ones up here are off 50% of the time. they are still paid a standard amount to turn them off and they are everywhere because of Herr Salmond.Donald trump is the guy who is supporting the anti-wind farm movement up here and has salmond on the run.

Re: Oswaldtwistle Moor
 

The answer would be to make electricity cheaper, the demand would go up and the windmills would turn all the time

Re: Oswaldtwistle Moor
 

Landowners get paid to have them - regardless of how much electricity they generate!

Re: Oswaldtwistle Moor
 

Come on who gave me some BAD Karma for this post? Coward can't even put a name to it! :rolleyes:

Re: Oswaldtwistle Moor
 

At a guess i would say someone who owns some land that might soon have a monstrosity on it. :D:D:D:D:D

Re: Oswaldtwistle Moor
 

Have you ever had red k that's been signed?? Cos I haven't - always anonymous!

Re: Oswaldtwistle Moor
 

I have only sent bad k twice and both times I signed them, one to the person complaining, who is also on my ignore list, and I told him that as well (I only know what he said as he was quoted in your post)

Re: Oswaldtwistle Moor
 

Taken Saturday 15 Sept
Attachment 25364 Attachment 25365 Attachment 25366 Attachment 25367

More photos in the "Today in pictures" thread.

Re: Oswaldtwistle Moor
 

How did you get so close to then?

I am on a guided tour of the area next month.

Re: Oswaldtwistle Moor
 

Try walking wi a hard hat n luminous jacket Neil, twill get yeh anywhere.;)

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The whole problem here is not really the dirt or the entrance (definitely on Hassy Road by the way) but the windfarm itself. There is a lot of money to be made from windfarms. Money is paid to landowners and the developers/owners get money from the government similar to the feed-in tariff from solar power.
I have covered this subject quite a lot in an environment publication and the conclusion seems to be that there is doubt as to just how much benefit to the environment there actually is.Windfarms are really not that efficient, there is a long running debate about how much electricity they are capable of producing when you consider that they actually use a percentage of the power they produce in the first place. If you balance this against the downside, the blot on the landscape, the danger to flying wildlife and what is called "shadowflash", a phenomenon which is basically a constant flicker upon nearby buildings (under certain circumstances) that has led some people to suggest an affect on people with photo-sensitive epilepsy (unproved as yet).
I am not convinced of their value (as indeed is the case with many experts) and their presence on hilltops is undeniably a bad thing for the visual environment.
As for being able to stop them from being developed at any stage, this is incredibly difficult due to special planning laws with regard to them (some local authorities have been overruled by national government, which is committed to more of them, regardless of political persuasion). Very few communities have ever stopped them (I don't know of any but I am sure there have been one or two).
One thing is for certain, whatever the value to the environment and the money made by the developers, nobody will see a reduction in electricity bills because of them.

Re: Oswaldtwistle Moor
 

I don't understand why there is a debate on how much electricity they produce because those that have them will know exactly.

Re: Oswaldtwistle Moor
 

Neil,
It’s quite simple - I just walked to them.
The footpath that across the moor is not closed and crosses the access road.

Re: Oswaldtwistle Moor
 

from the back lane at bash ...:D

Re: Oswaldtwistle Moor
 

You can actually see them from just after the m65/m61 junction near Preston as you drive towards accy. They are straight in front of you as you come along the motorway.

Personally, and this may be a little weird but I like them, they are kind of hypnotic...

Re: Oswaldtwistle Moor
 

yeh must be weird, agreeing wi me, i quite like em as well.:D

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I think they're aesthetically pleasing. Quite often gaze at the ones up behind the Coppice when I'm standing on the Clayton End waiting for the match to start. I like the look of electricity pylons, too.

Re: Oswaldtwistle Moor
 

Absolutely, but the problem here is that because they are so lucrative the developers have been criticised for making claims that many experts doubt.

Re: Oswaldtwistle Moor
 

Mmmm!! Still what is aesthetically pleasing to one may not be to another. I personally think they are dreadful but that may be more about the movement than anything. They'd drive me nuts if I could see them out of my window.
Pylons though??? When I was a kid we used to live in a house with fields behind and just outside our fence was a pylon. To see the sparks and hear the hissing when it rained scared me to death.
Scarred for life, ha ha!.

Re: Oswaldtwistle Moor
 

man as always used and traded on natural resource, and moulded his enviroment to his own will, wind and rain are certainly a natural resource of lancashire, i agree they can be an eyesore in some places but i believe they can also be aesthetically pleasing too, yet to make my mind up about the mossy ones, i can sit on the decking in the back garden and see them, at the moment it something different to look at.

they are certainly more pleasing to the eye than, a slag heap, "dirty gre't chimmley" bellowing out whatever.

Re: Oswaldtwistle Moor
 

The health hazards of living near power lines is now recognized
http://www.abermulewales.co.uk/powerwatch.pdf

Re: Oswaldtwistle Moor
 

That probably explains the way I am then.:mosher: You're right though, they are now recognised as potentially bad for the health.

Re: Oswaldtwistle Moor
 

Putting the blades on the 10th windmill.
The blades.
All 10 windmills

Re: Oswaldtwistle Moor
 

I was absolutely stunned to see the view of this thing from the playing fields nr Fern Gore shops. They seem to be far larger turbines than those on Scout Moor. They do really over shadow the town now.

My only hope is that they are temporary and in 10 or 20 years time we will have a found a more effective source of energy, nuclear fission or the like, and these can be taken down and the site returned to nature.

However, they have set up a community fund. This doesn't sound like a vast amount of money but if anyone is interested.
Community Fund : HyndburnWindFarm

Re: Oswaldtwistle Moor
 

It is a little early to be applying for funding. Money from the wind farm will not be given to Prospects until the wind farm is producing. The method of application, assessment, monitoring etc is not yet in place.

Re: Oswaldtwistle Moor
 

Good grief, from Spider61s photos they look enormous, the blade lying on the low loaders really shows it.
How high are the erected ones?

Re: Oswaldtwistle Moor
 

They are 80m tall with 42m long blades

Re: Oswaldtwistle Moor
 

I call them the Ossy Triffids.

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Windmills in the mist - this morning


Attachment 27391

Attachment 27392

Attachment 27393

Attachment 27394

Attachment 27395

Re: Oswaldtwistle Moor
 

Love that 2nd pic.

Re: Oswaldtwistle Moor
 

Them Windmills have a lot to answer for

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Very eery - they have me thinking of alien invasion!

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Windfarm from Holden Wood, Duke of Wellington mid photo

Re: Oswaldtwistle Moor
 

Forgive me if this is aired somewhere else, but, the actual amount will be £100,000 per year for the next 25 years and is not dependant on the amount of electricity actually produced. Its based on the theoretical capacity of each turbine.
With match funding from other sources this means a total income of £5,000,000 for Prospects over the next 25 years.
There seems to be a silence on how this largesse will be allocated around the Borough. The turbines are turning so, one assumes, the cash will shortly be bolstering Prospects bank balance.
There is also silence on how Prospects were selected to receive this money.

Re: Oswaldtwistle Moor
 

This is the wrong place but seeing as you asked I will try and help.

No silence on how Prospect were selected, Energie Kontor have posted the information here Community Fund : HyndburnWindFarm. As far as I know they approached The Prospects Foundation several years ago and invited them to submit a proposal for a community fund.

The actual amount will not be £100,000 a year. It is index linked and could increase each year.

No idea where you come up with the figure of £5 million income for prospects. If you read the link I posted it explains that money will be available for local groups to apply for. When and how that bidding process will work has not yet been decided.

If you want any more information I suggest to contact the charity manager on this page http://www.prospectsfoundation.org.u...age=contact-us

Re: Oswaldtwistle Moor
 

Neil,
Regarding the £5m, I was taking into account match funding that would be available from other sources. I'm sure you are aware that this is how many charities accumulate funds to do their work. So £100,000 x 25years = £2.5m + £2.5m (match funding) = £5m.
Energiekontor quoted the £100,000 figure in their Project Update April 2009, a figure which has not been disputed by Energie or Prospects when it has appeared in the local press, This equates to £3,500 per installed megawatt (i.e.the design capacity of the turbine, not the actual amount of power supplied.)
As you say there is an annual inflation increase written into the agreement, so we could say Prospects have the prospect of a steady annual income which over the next 25 years will have totaled £5m + inflation.
I may have missed it, but I query whether any other organisation, along with Prospects, was considered to oversee the spending of this significant amount of community money.

Of course this will be indirectly added to all our electric bills, but I don't think we need to go down that road on this thread.

Re: Oswaldtwistle Moor
 

Why are you so interested in why Prospects were chosen by Energie Kontor?

As for match funding, that would go to the community group that is successful in an application to Prospects not to Prospects itself.

Some projects might get no match funding and others might manage a lot better than 50:50 match to other funding.

Re: Oswaldtwistle Moor
 

Quote""As for match funding, that would go to the community group that is successful in an application to Prospects not to Prospects itself.

Some projects might get no match funding and others might manage a lot better than 50:50 match to other funding.[/QUOTE]

Only interested from a concerned residents point of view that the community gain from the wind farm is used in an open and transparent way to the benefit of all areas of Hyndburn.
Of course you make a good point that match funding may be variable, but even so we are talking of a sizable amount of money. Over the 25 years I would think a ball park figure of £5m is not an unreasonable estimate.