£50million wind farm scheme

Residents living in the valley are being invited to take a first look at the Scout Moor Wind Farm, aimed at providing green power for more than 51,000 homes.

The site, near Edenfield, is the windiest in Lancashire with average wind speeds of 15mph - 50 per cent higher than Manchester.

The project - in partnership with development company Peel Holdings - will also provide £1million for community projects and create up to 130 construction jobs.

If the plans get the go-ahead from the Secretary of State, Scout Moor will provide six times more electricity than Cliviger's wind farm - currently the biggest in the North West.

An exhibition is being held in Rawtenstall town centre on Saturday, when the public can find out more about the scheme.

The exhibition will show seven 'before and after' photo montages of the turbines taken from different viewpoints around the Scout Moor site, between Edenfield and Whitworth.

Visitors will also be given a virtual view of the turbines by using special software called 'Windfarmer' which allows people to see the view of the proposed wind farm from their house by typing in a grid reference number.

Wind farm experts and consultants West Coast Energy will be on hand to answer questions on the scheme.

Richard Brewster, development manager for Scout Moor Wind Farm, said: "Everyone's got a view on wind power, but we want as many people as possible to come along to the exhibition and find out the real story for themselves. We hope visitors will see that wind farms provide green electricity without producing harmful emissions such as carbon dioxide, one of the main greenhouse gases causing global warming."

The Scout Moor plan is for 26 turbines capable of generating 65 megawatts of electricity, enough to power more than all the households in Rossendale and saving more than 170,000 tonnes of carbon dioxide being released into the atmosphere.

The turbines would be sited on the moors between Rawtenstall and Rochdale, including Scout Moor and Knowle Moor.

Less than two per cent of the moorland would be used and public access to the moors would not be affected.

Last summer, United Utilities and Peel announced they were considering developing a wind farm in the area and since then have listened to the views of more than 50 organisations when drawing up their proposal.

An environmental impact assessment has also been carried out.

The exhibition takes place at Rawtenstall Unitarian Church, Bank Street, Rawtenstall, from 10am-4pm on Saturday.