Council objects to cable plan for wind farms

Councillors have voted unanimously to object to plans for onshore cabling for wind farms off the Lancashire coast.

Lancashire County Council has decided to write to the government with its concerns over potential effects on local residents, tourism, the environment and wildlife.

The current plan would see cables connect to the National Grid from Starr Gate, near Blackpool Airport, through Fylde and then to Penwortham. A decision is expected next year.

The Morgan Offshore Wind Project will see 96 turbines built more than 20 miles (32km) off the Fylde coast, which developers said would produce 1500MW - enough electricity to power nearly two million homes every year.

Tory councillor Peter Buckley told BBC Radio Lancashire: "It is a multi-year construction project that will severely disrupt residents, businesses and local tourism.

"It will damage sensitive coastal and rural environments threatening wildlife habitats, bringing massive construction heavy traffic rumbling along narrow residential roads, and permanently alter the character of rural Fylde."

Under the Morgan and Morecambe Offshore Wind Farms scheme, cables would come ashore near Starr Gate beach, before running through the countryside and into a battery storage facility in Penwortham.

Morgan and Morecambe said it was committed to minimising the impact of realising the benefits brought by wind farms.

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