Man loses legal battle over turbine (From Herald Series)

Man loses legal battle over turbine

8:30pm Monday 25th May 2009 in Wantage/Grove By Hayley Cover

The turbine is 40ft high

A MAN has been banned from using his wind turbine after losing a court battle.

Steve Munday, 55, put up a £20,000, 40ft turbine in a paddock at his home in High Street, Stanford in the Vale, but was issued with a Noise Abatement Order by the Vale of White Horse District Council, following complaints it was too noisy.

Mr Munday appealed to Didcot magistrates claiming the ban was unreasonable and there was an error in the order. But on Thursday he lost his long-running battle and was ordered to pay £5,392 costs.

Mr Munday told magistrates: “The abatement order refers to noise from premises. This is not arising out of any premises. The sound omitted is less than birdsong, or wind blowing through the trees.

“It’s the same pitch as a dishwasher and is no different to any sound in a modern home.”

Alick Natton, the Vale’s senior environmental officer, and Michael Stigwood, an independent noise and nuisance adviser, carried out noise level tests during 12 visits to the site.

Mr Natton said: “I had to take into account how long the noise was continuing for, what sort of time of day it was occurring, how often, and was there something particular about the character of the noise.”

Mr Stigwood, who said there was nothing wrong with the order, visited the site in April.

He said: “(The noise) was continual and I found it to be a nuisance as it is a noise we don’t get used to. Rest and relaxation is particularly affected. It’s irritating and gets under your skin and is intrusive.”

Neighbour Virginia Thom- asson, 49, of Horsecroft Road, said: “I can hear it inside and outside my house – at night, in the daytime, all the time. I cannot sleep with the window open.

“I am a tolerant person but with this noise it superimposes itself over everything I hear.”

Michael Brown, 49, of Horsecroft Lane, added: “The rhythmic mechanical noise is very irritating and incessant.”

Chairman of the bench Liz Holford dismissed the appeal and said: “The council said the nuisance would continue and we think (the order) is reasonable and necessary.”

news@oxfordmail.co.uk