{"id":45668,"date":"2025-08-05T13:49:23","date_gmt":"2025-08-05T13:49:23","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/45668\/"},"modified":"2025-08-05T13:49:23","modified_gmt":"2025-08-05T13:49:23","slug":"plans-to-expand-windfarm-with-17-more-turbines","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/45668\/","title":{"rendered":"Plans to expand windfarm with 17 more turbines"},"content":{"rendered":"

Plans to add a further 17 wind turbines at the site of England’s largest onshore wind farm have been submitted. <\/p>\n

Cubico Sustainable Investments is seeking to put the turbines on the Scout Moor II development in Rossendale, Lancashire, which is already home to 26 turbines.<\/p>\n

A previous bid by Peel Wind Power to expand the number of turbines was supported by Rossendale Borough Council and the neighbouring Rochdale authority but was refused by the then-secretary of state following a public inquiry.<\/p>\n

Cubico said the expansion would mean enough electricity could be generated to power about 77% of households in Rossendale and Rochdale, while campaigners said they would “dominate” the valley.<\/p>\n

The 26 turbines already in place were erected in 2008 as part of the original Scout Moor Wind Farm.<\/p>\n

The scheme is the first of its kind since planning rules were changed under Labour to support new projects, the Local Democracy Reporting Service<\/a> said.<\/p>\n

The previous Conservative government brought in new planning rules that effectively ruled out new onshore wind farm developments back in 2015, but those have since been eased.<\/p>\n

Cubico said the plans marked a significant step in helping the country meet its climate goals, reducing reliance on imported energy, and unlocking the full potential of homegrown renewables.<\/p>\n

Campaigners from the Say NO to Scout Moor 2 group have said the new turbines would be higher than Blackpool Tower, dominating the valley and providing little benefit to the environment.<\/p>\n

They said they also feared the high level of concrete used to keep the turbines standing would cause irreversible damage to the peatlands in the area.<\/p>\n

In response to the group’s concerns, Cubico said it proposed the delivery of a major moorland restoration scheme. <\/p>\n

It said this would focus on improving and protecting the unique peatland across the site, rewetting the moor, restoring native vegetation, and improving habitats for local wildlife.<\/p>\n

Peter Rowe, development manager at Cubico said the firm had listened to what people had said during a consultation and their input had “shaped a stronger scheme that we believe delivers for local communities and supports national energy goals”.<\/p>\n

Rochdale and Rossendale councils will now consider the plans for approval.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Plans to add a further 17 wind turbines at the site of England’s largest onshore wind farm have…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":45669,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[22],"tags":[1397,90,56,54,55],"class_list":["post-45668","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-environment","tag-environment","tag-science","tag-uk","tag-united-kingdom","tag-unitedkingdom"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/45668","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=45668"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/45668\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/45669"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=45668"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=45668"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=45668"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}