Council at fault over power lines
A government ombudsman has criticised a council "maladministration" that resulted in overhead power lines being put up in an Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty.
Tynedale Council granted planning permission for a barn at Dryburn Hall, Ninebanks, to be converted into a home in 2002, with a nine-metre domestic wind turbine to avoid the need for electricity cables.
Council policy bans overhead power lines in Areas of Outstanding Natural Beauty and requires power lines to be placed underground.
But in approving this application the Council did not impose the condition, and the applicant later chose not to put up the turbine - installing power lines on poles.
Local Government Ombudsman Anne Seex said that when the council granted planning permission, it should have imposed a condition requiring power lines to be placed underground.
She said: "As a result of this maladministration, there is now a section of overhead power line across an Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty."
A spokesman for the Ombudsman added: "The Ombudsman recommends that the council should negotiate with the developer and the power supply company to remove the overhead power supply and install a wind turbine at the council's expense.
"The Council should otherwise negotiate with both parties to ensure that the power supply is placed underground - again at the Council's expense."
Helen Winter, director of planning at Tynedale Council, said: "The applicant was made fully aware that power lines would not be appropriate in this location at the time of applying for planning permission.
"The application contained a proposal for a wind turbine. It would appear that the applicant changed his plans for power generation some considerable time after the development was given planning permission."
Richard Robson, chief executive of the council, added: "This application dealt with an unusual and complex situation. We are firmly of the belief we did properly consider the planning application and are disappointed that the Ombudsman does not seem to have considered the full complexities of the case."
Source: Journal Live (30/03/2007)
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