Shailesh Vara, Member of Parliament for North West Cambridgeshire, has welcomed today’s decision by the Secretary of State at the Department for Communities and Local Government, to refuse planning permission for the Molesworth Wind Farm.

The proposed site at land north of the A14 and Bythorn, and north-east of Molesworth, was subject to a planning application for 6 wind turbines and associated infrastructure in June 2012. In line with changes made to planning rules at the time, the developer, RWE Group, had the right to take the application directly to the Planning Inspectorate as it had not been decided upon within 26 weeks of its submission to Huntingdonshire District Council. However, the Secretary of State, the Rt. Hon. Eric Pickles MP, decided to ‘call in’ the application for a Ministerial decision rather than for it to be determined by a Planning Inspector.

In his decision, the Secretary of State considered that the factors that weigh in favour of the 6 turbines were clearly outweighed by the cumulative harm and conflict identified with national policy. With regards to the 3 turbine recommendation in the planning inspector’s report, it was considered that the failure to preserve the setting of listed buildings in the area would also outweigh the positive aspects of the application.

Mr Vara commented:

“This is the right result and I am absolutely delighted that the Secretary of State has decided against these wind turbines. This has been a long campaign and I pay tribute to the work of the Molesworth Wind Farm Action Group and local residents on this issue. The Chairman of the Action Group, Mrs Vicky Wood, deserves special mention for her dedication to the campaign and all concerned have fought long and hard against this development.

The villages in this part of Huntingdonshire are a beautiful part of our area and the arguments against the wind turbines were very compelling. It is good that common sense has prevailed.”