Fylde Coast wind farm plans could tear through businesses, land and affect schools, objectors say

Across the Fylde Coast, residents, business owners and farmers are uniting on one very contentious issue.

Two offshore wind farms are set to be positioned in the Irish Sea, with a series of cables connecting them to an existing electricity substation in Penwortham. Whilst the idea is good in theory, to build on green energy, the idea in action is a very different matter.

Residents of the Fylde are strongly opposing the plans, dubbed the Morgan and Morecambe Offshore Wind Farm as it is set to "rip through" much of the area's greenbelt. This means farmland will be destroyed, tourism will be disrupted, mental health affected and dust and noise pollution created - but that's just the beginning.

READ MORE:

• Fylde Coast resident claims she could see dramatic fall in house price if wind farm plans go ahead

• Wind farm plans could tear through greenbelt land as residents object

What are the plans?

The Morgan and Morecambe Offshore Wind Farms are two-fold - The Morgan side of the project is to be developed under a joint venture between bp and EnBW Energie Baden-Wurttemberg AG. The Morecambe side is under a joint venture between Cobra and Flotation Energy.

According to BP, both projects in the east of the Irish Sea have the combined potential to generate around 2GW. This could possibly contribute to the government's ambition of 50GW offshore wind power by 2030 and could generate enough electricity for two million homes.

The farms will be connected through a cable corridor, "wider than the M55 motorway", to the existing National Grid substation in Penwortham. Two substations in Kirkham and Newton will also be built on greenbelt land - but their sizes are somewhat considerable.

One of these substations, overlooking many homes and farms plan to be the size of 13 football pitches and over 23 metres in height. These will also be in close proximity to schools, including Carr Hill High School, Newton Bluecoats and Strike Lane Primary School, as well as Tree Tots Nursery in Kirkham.

The substations are likely to emit a 'buzzing' noise for any occupants nearby, something many residents are concerned of for the local children and their mental health. Generating green energy, the plans aren't controversial in theory, but the practice does plan to tear through much of the Fylde's land, including land that many residents live, work and rely on everyday.

'Customers will drop like flies'

One person who relies on their land everyday is Chris Pollit, the owner of Wrea Green Equitation Centre. Calling the horse riding school her 'baby', Chris built the centre 43 years ago and now, could face losing it altogether.

Morgan and Morecambe plan to build infrastructure next to the equitation centre, causing concern for the animals themselves. Chris likens this to the incident in London, where horses from the Household Cavalry were seen bolting through the city's streets after becoming alarmed from a loud bang.

Chris said: "It's sixth sense is amazing, like a dog. So it feels vibrations, noise, smell, sight, much more than we do. If that gets wind of something, in a school where we may have five riders going around, it's fight or flight with a horse.

"It doesn't think, oh that's a new noise I wonder what that is? It bucks and runs like hell and they will run through a brick wall. If you've got three others in, they will follow because it's a herding instinct."

The equitation centre is a crucial part of the Fylde Coast, of Wrea Green and of many people's lives. It accommodates 300 riders a week on average, offering sessions for the general public, disabled people from aged three and facilities for colleges and schools.

Chris added: "We all felt the vibrations when they were testing the fracking and it was like an earthquake - is that going to be the same? How can we insure against that? We can't, that's the problem. Customers will probably, voluntarily drop like flies because of the risk factor."

'Fighting a legal battle against BP'

Next door to the equitation and on the land where Morgan and Morecambe plan to build infrastructure is the land owned by a generational farmer and the father of Neil Critchley. Talking about what the plans could do for his family, Neil said: "My dad is nearly 70 and he's too busy trying to get through to pay his feed bill every month and feed his cows, muck out and do his work to worry about fighting a legal battle against BP."

As work could tear up the land, Neil says it could take "30-50" years for it to go back to normal.

However, it's not just landowners opposing what's going on. Residents are angry too.

Pamela Cairns has lived in her Freckleton home for the past six years and hoped to spend her retirement their with her husband and two dogs. In a quiet area, Pamela enjoys looking out to the farms opposite her home - but this view could look very different in the next few years.

One of the substations, the structure set to be 13 football pitches in width, is proposed to be built opposite Pamela's home. Having estate agents value her property, they originally said around £285,000 to 295,000, but the onshore wind farm plans could bring this down by £60,000.

Accused of being a 'nimby', Pamela says the issue is a lot more nuanced. She was diagnosed with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) 17 years ago.

Pamela says she submitted her objections for the plans, outlining how she needs to sleep with the window open every night for air circulation. She added: "I explained I have to sleep with my bedroom window open all year round for my chest. I said 'how am I going to do that when there's a buzzing noise all the time?'"

Jonny Wilde lives in a village on the Fylde Coast, Newton, which is a focus point with a lot of the wind farm plans. He established the Facebook group, 'Against the Wind Farm Onshore Cable and Substation Plans across the Fylde' and created a petition to ban the wind farm development on greenbelt land which has amassed over 3,000 signatures.

What do the councils say?

Councillor Peter Collins has been on Fylde Borough Council since 2003 and on Newton with Clifton Parish Council since the 1980s, he says the plans are "disappointing". He added: "We've been trying to communicate with the National Grid to see if there are other sites for it to be connected, but it's been very difficult as it seems they've decided it's going to be Penwortham.

"There's already a substation at Stanah that is running parallel with Penwortham. My local council, Newton with Clifton Parish Council have sort of led the way in, not opposing it, but trying to highlight the issues.

"As a small parish council we've got limited clout, but we're members of LALC, that's the Lancashire Association of Local Councils and we've just set up a Fylde area energy working group to get members of other parish and town councils onboard and Fylde Councillors and also Lancashire County Councillors as well. To have a body there that's got more clout and perhaps engage with the National Grid, get them to look at this again, to perhaps identify other connection points and sites that won't cause the disruption and heartache this will unnecessarily."

For our previous article on the issue, LancsLive contacted Fylde Council, who stated their position on the plans haven't changed since November 2023, when objections were raised with the proposals and presented at that time. The council have not yet been made aware of any changes or further consultation on the scheme.

A Lancashire County Council spokesman said: "A consultation relating to a forthcoming application by a private company to develop a new offshore windfarm across the Fylde Coast was carried out towards the end of 2023.

"During the consultation, we raised concerns about the impacts on ecology, particularly near the internationally protected areas of the Ribble estuary and the impact on the local highway network and other concerns.

"Our planning and transport officers highlighted that the proposal has the potential to cause significant disruption to residents during construction and any roadworks are likely to have significant knock-on effects to the wider network resulting in congestion. They also advised that information in the Lancashire Environmental Records Network should be taken into account, such as irreplaceable habitats, habitats of principal importance and protected and priority species that may be affected.

"As the proposal is classed as a 'nationally significant infrastructure project,' the application will be submitted to the Planning Inspectorate, who will review the application and make recommendations to the Secretary of State, who has the powers to grant or refuse development consent.

“However, the Planning Inspectorate's review process does include a process of public examination."

What do Morgan and Morecambe say?

A spokesperson for Morgan and Morecambe said: "The Morgan Offshore Wind Project and the Morecambe Offshore Windfarm are two proposed offshore wind farms being developed in the Irish Sea. The two offshore wind farms intend to make an important contribution to the UK's target of generating 50GW of power from offshore wind by 2030.

"Combined they have the potential to generate almost 2GW of electricity - enough to power the equivalent of around two million homes. Since 2022, our project teams have held three rounds of consultation (both non-statutory and statutory) and we recognise that public consultation is a vital process, which gives the local community an opportunity to review our proposals, ask us questions and provide their feedback.

"All feedback we have received has been considered to date and helped inform our design process. We understand there are local concerns, and these will be addressed in due course. We intend to provide a further update on our plans over the coming months, before we submit our application, later in the year."