Wind turbine on Hackney Marshes: the reaction 4
It’s been just over a week since news emerged that a wind turbine twice the size of Nelson’s Column is planned for Hackney Marshes. If you haven’t heard, the plan has been put forward by the Olympic Delivery Authority, which has pledged to generate a certain amount of renewable energy for the Olympic Park. It has already got permission to put a second turbine in the nearby Eton Manor fields area, which falls in the neighbouring borough of Waltham Forest.
Hackney Council, which would lease the land and would have to give planning permission, has launched a public consulation and has pledged not to allow the plan if residents don’t want it. But Mayor Jules Pipe has declared himself “on balance” in favour of it. Hackney claims that, taken together, the turbines would power all the street lights and council buildings in the borough.
So what has been the reaction? First of all there’s a lot of scepticism about the council’s claims. In terms of the total electricity consumption in the borough, the street lights and council buildings – although they sound a lot – are only a small part. And the claim that two turbines could supply even that amount of power seems optimistic. I notice that Hackney seems to have scaled back its claims – now, in its FAQ page, it says only that electricity from the pair of turbines will only be “almost enough” to power the street lights – and there’s no mention of power for the council buildings that was originally quoted in a Hackney Today pullout (not available online) and repeated in this Hackney Gazette report.
Plus, what no-one seems to have picked up on is that the electricity won’t directly supply the council – it will go into the national grid. And won’t Waltham Forest want to claim their (notional) share? That would leave enough power for less than half of Hackney’s street lamps. The consumption claims don’t stack up to even the most cursory, amateur analysis.
So what we’re left with is a feeling that this is a gesture – a nod to environmentalism from Hackney, which to be fair has already made great strides with its compulsory recycling scheme. And perhaps there’s an argument that gestures are important: it’s not as if Hackney has vast areas of space where it could accommodate a full-size wind farm.
Anyway, what’s interesting is that the reaction has not been overwhelmingly negative.
Residents of Leabank Square, who overlook the Olympic Park and have had a decidedly rough ride in the past few years, seem to be evenly divided on their lively blog. One commenter says:
None of us wants to lose ANY more green space [...] but the advantages of millions of green kilowatts of energy surely far outweigh astrip of land no? Plus it looks quite stylish actually. I know we won’t All be able to see it from every residence, but we will still see it out and about. What are the police going to do about their copter flight path?
But others are concerned about the loss of green space:
We’ve lost Arena Fields already, we’re going to lose part of the East Marsh to the new changing rooms & caff, now along comes another scheme for us to ose yet more space.
What other developments do you think are coming our way, to take yet more green away from us?
The users of Hackney Marshes don’t seem to be too pleased, according to the Hackney Gazette:
Johnny Walker, the chairman of the Hackney & Leyton Sunday Football league, said: “It’s an encroachment on the marsh, which is common land. It’s intrusive and it’s imposing on what is supposed to be a nice area for outdoor sport and I think it’s totally appalling.
The consultation runs until December 14. There are a number of events and exhibitions: on Monday November 9 in Hackney Town Hall on Mare Street, from 3pm to 7.30pm, with presentations at 3.30pm, 5pm and 6.30pm. There will be drop-in events, including one at at Stamford Hill library on November 13 from 3pm to 5pm and at another at Stoke Newington library on November 23 from 3pm to 5pm. More venues are listed here.
I’m glad to see someone else has spotted some of the many problems with the ‘information’ provided by Hackney Council.
There is a notable absence of data or supporting evidence for their claims about the impact on wildlife, the power that could be generated, how it could save Hackney money etc (questions to the Council have been ignored) . There is also no basic info about who will fund it, own it or maintain it long term – it is unlikely to be profitable given the low average wind speeds in the area.
All we can really gather is roughly where it’s planned to go, how big it is and that the ODA are somehow involved – though this too is puzzling since we are told it won’t be built till 2013, when the ODA is being disbanded.
As you rightly point out, there is also the misinformation about the electricity somehow being available specifically for Hackney, which is impossible unless a private electricity network for the borough was constructed.
Also bizarre is Jules Pipe’s suggestion that green electricity contracts are “just an accounting exercise” because “electricity used in the south is likely being generated by coal” – such a failure to grasp the fundamentals of the electricity network does not inspire confidence in the benefits of the project.
as you will see, I just became aware of this today.
Hackney Labour are off their canisters. We get a wind turbine inreturn for the opportunity to purchase green energy?
It’s a joke, and yet again, you and I are the punch line.
The choice between football and the environment is a cruelly false one. It disguises the take over of common land by Energy Multi-nationals. It plays on people’s capacity to surrender something for the greater good. For shades of things to come go to Millfields Recreation Ground, E5, and see the land grab being carried out by the National Grid and EDF by their redeveloped power station.
The is a lot more to Hackney Marshes the football. It is a semi rural space with wide horizens and open skies existing in close proximity to very dense housing conurbations. It ia part of the greater Lea Marshes which are about to be cut through by High rise housing developments, courtesy of Waltham Forest Council.
If schools were teaching children the pleasures and the meaning of the enjoyment of the countryside they would be spending more time outdoors and less time indoors with the heating thermostat at maximum while they play at virtual outdoors games. No Profits in that though is there… except perhaps for the ecology of our world.
I contacted Hackney council and asked, under FOIA, for some basic information about the power generation capacity of the Hackney wind turbine. The response? Well, they know virtually nothing about it.