Wind farm ruling appealed

An appeal was lodged yesterday against a decision to allow Meridian Energy to build 70 wind turbines near Makara in Wellington.

The Wellington City Council received 4337 submissions, mostly in support of the $380 million Project West Wind, set to cover a 56sq km area known as Quartz Hill and Terawhiti Station.

However, Hugh Barr, spokesman for the Quartz Hill Reserve Charitable Trust, said yesterday that the trust had appealed against the decision of the commissioners of the Wellington City and Regional Councils to allow the wind farm to go ahead.

The trust's aim was to protect the natural, open space and recreational value of Quartz Hill and coastal Makara escarpment for the enjoyment of the public.

"Although the commissioners found that there would be significant adverse effects on Makara's outstanding coastal landscape, they approved the whole proposal.

"And they ignored the advice of the city council's independent landscape planner that 21 turbines should be removed.

"In the end they put no value on a broad range of local concerns raised at the hearing," Dr Barr said.

"Meridian continues to fund a million dollar ad campaign on TV. This pushes a virtuous view of wind power, but ignores its problems.

"Their proposal has too many wind turbines within the Makara coastal and residential environment. Clearly the most intrusive of these can be removed with only a small effect on overall output."

- NZPA