Wind-farm policy urged for region

CHRIS GARDNER
The Hastings District Council should come up with a regional policy on wind farms before it decides whether Unison can build a 16-turbine wind farm on the Titiokura Summit, says landscape architect Shannon Bray.
Mr Bray, secretary of the Hawke's Bay-Manawatu branch of the New Zealand Institute of Landscape Architects, yesterday urged the council's hearings committee to reserve its decision until a regional policy had been adopted on wind farms.
The policy, which would have input from Hawke's Bay Regional Council, Napier City Council and the Ministry for the Environment, would give strict guidelines on location, size and scale of such developments and be approved after public consultation.
Mr Bray asked the committee to consider the cumulative effects of the development, and another wind far being proposed by a separate applicant on neighbouring land, due to go before the committee at the end of the month.
"In the event of any future application in this area, it is plausible that the future applicant could argue that the addition of further wind turbines to the landscape would not change the character of that landscape, as the landscape (should this application be granted) already contained this type of activity," he said.
"There is a strong case to indicate that new wind farms in this landscape will find it easier to succeed, due to a changed landscape character, should this application be granted. It is likely that the issue of cumulative effects could 'slip through the net', given the timing of the two current applications."
He called on Unison to work with Hawke's Bay Wind Farms Ltd to produce a visual assessment of how the landscape would look, should both applications be granted.
Mr Bray said the council had failed to consult with the public on wind farms.
Committee chairman Dinah Williams told Mr Bray the application had to be decided on its merits.
Hawke's Bay historian Patrick Parsons, who is also objecting to the proposal, said the wind turbines would create a "new and alien skyline and permanently tarnish the public's perception and enjoyment of the outstanding natural landscape".
The Titiokura Saddle on the Napier-Taupo road (SH5), he said, had special significance to motorists approaching the region from the interior.
"For travellers arriving at the summit, the prospect of a series of giant wind turbines studded over the landscape is inappropriate and no amount of promotional spin or rhetoric can minimise the negative visual impact," he said.
Mr Parsons said the site had been designated an Outstanding Natural Feature in the Hastings District Plan, but had the status removed in 2000, following an appeal from the landowner.
The size of the application, compared to what was allowed on the site as of right, also jarred with Mr Parsons. "While most people would have no difficulty with a certain flexibility of the 15-metre restriction, depending on location and visibility, the height differential proposed in this application is extreme.
"The height of the wind turbines exceeds the limit by more than eight times. Multiply the impact by 16 wind turbines and you have a radical breach of the district plan's restrictions," he said.