Wilton Village residents held protest against plans to build two 'noisy' wind turbines

Villagers held a protest against plans to build “noisy” wind turbines at Wilton Village.

The group - which held placards saying ‘No more turbines’, ‘Save our countryside’ and ‘Wilton says no’ - stood at the entrance to Wilton Village on Saturday morning.

Renewable energy firm Airvolution proposes to build two 140m turbines within half a mile from Wilton, Yearby and Kirkleatham.

Phil Chapman, a spokesman for Wilton villagers against the wind turbines, said the residents have written to Redcar and Cleveland Council’s planning department to “look into the possibility of postponing the consideration of the planning application for the wind turbines which have been proposed between Wilton and Yearby villages”.

Wind turbine protest Wilton Village. Organiser is Phil Chapman

They want the decision postponed until after an independent survey has been completed. It is due to be finished by June.

“We feel the results of the survey shall be very helpful to the planning authority when finalising their decision on the turbines,” said the 65-year-old retired care home owner. After all, it is surely in no one’s interest to give the turbines the green light, only to find the noise they produce is above the nuisance threshold.”

He added that guidelines said wind turbines should be 1km away from properties but the two planned between Wilton and Yearby were 600m away from the nearest house.

“Airvolution keep postponing the date of the planning meeting. It was originally in September, then December, now we think it’s going to be March,” added Mr Chapman, who is married to Eileen and has two grown-up children and two grandchildren.

“We want them to know we are still here and we’re not going away about it.

“We will keep fighting it for as long as we can.”

Barry Thomas, 71, a resident of Wilton, said: “Our garden looks right into the site where the turbines are planned.

“We get a lot of birds. We spend £150 a month on feeding the birds.

“There is going to be a flicker effect on our house and the drone noise will affect us.”

Wind turbine protest Wilton Village. Lynnda Thomas, Wilton resident

A spokesperson for Airvolution said after the last protest by villagers: “We believe this is an important project that can help generate much needed renewable energy - the Wilton wind project would generate enough electricity to power 4,500 homes every year and bring investment and new jobs to the local area.

“If the two-turbine project goes ahead it will also lead to the creation of a community benefit fund worth £33,000 for every year of the project’s lifetime, which will benefit local communities around Wilton and Yearby.

“We have already set up a community liaison group to ensure that we are listening to the views of local people from nearby villages and are looking forward to receiving more feedback from other consultees during this planning stage.

“If anybody wants to get in touch with Airvolution to ask questions about our plans they can email info@airvolutionenergy.com or call us for free on 0800 0147 080.”