A West Cumbrian factory wants to erect a wind turbine to supply its energy.
Shoe manufacturer New Balance, has applied to erect an 150ft turbine at its Flimby premises, near Maryport.
The firm, which celebrated its 40th anniversary on the site last year, says the turbine would cover the needs of the factory and any surplus energy created would be sold to its second factory.
The proposal will be discussed by Cumberland Council’s planning committee on Wednesday.
Officers have recommended the scheme for approval, despite several objections.
Seaton Parish Council has objected to the plan because it fears the turbine, at the south west of the New Balance site, would be obtrusive and questioned the impact of noise and flicker.
A report to councillors added: “It also questions the need for a turbine when the organisation already benefits from energy generated by the adjoining solar farm.”
The application has received 20 letters of support and 21 letters of objection.
Concerns raised include noise, flicker, impact on the landscape, loss of visual amenity and highway safety.
In a five kilometre area around the factory, there are 28 existing wind turbines – 10 of which are within a kilometre of New Balance.
The report said: “As such, the presence of wind turbines is well established in the baseline condition and the proposed development would not introduce a new or unexpected element into the landscape.
“Officers consider that wind turbines are now a defining characteristic of the area, which reinforce the industrial character of the landscape setting.
“The proposed wind turbine will create the effect of an ‘end stop’ and the linear placement of turbines will not extend any further north towards the more sensitive landscape of the Solway Coast Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty.
“Officers, therefore, consider that the landscape character has capacity for a single wind turbine which will be viewed in the context of the existing large-scale
industrial features of the A596 coastal corridor.”
The report added that the turbine would have the potential to have an impact on seven nearby properties on St Helen’s Lane – but not enough to be deemed oppressive, so the proposal was considered acceptable.
It added that shadow flicker could be an issue for nine homes near the turbine and while there was no accepted guidance in the UK as to what was considered acceptable levels, in Germany, Belgium and Northern Ireland it is 30 hours a year at a maximum of 30 minutes a day.
The company’s assessment showed that eight homes were predicted to experience more than 30 hours a year of shadow flicker if the turbine went ahead and it has put forward a shutdown scheme to eliminate that.
The turbine’s blades would stop rotating for defined period specified within the shutdown scheme.
