Wind farm projects are often subject to high levels of scrutiny by planning authorities and third parties. Due to the high profile of proposed developments it is increasingly common for projects to end up at Public Inquiry. TNEI always look to provide robust technical services to ensure that the assessments are defensible throughout the planning process and at Public Inquiry if and when required.
The six strong noise team have been involved in over fifty full ETSU-R-97 noise assessments and several hundred smaller assessments. During the last 18 months staff have been involved in six Public Inquiries for wind farm proposals; two schemes have been approved with all noise related issues resolved to the satisfaction of the appointed Planning Inspector, one scheme was dismissed despite the inspector having no concerns regarding noise, whilst three projects are yet to be determined.
TNEI’s Principal Acoustic Consultant Stephen Arnott has given evidence at all three inquiries to date and is in the process of preparing his proof of evidence for the next three inquiries which are due to be held in late 2010 / early 2011.
Stephen is involved with the measurement, prediction and assessment of all types of community and environmental noise. He has been a member of the UK Institute of Acoustics since 1987 and in the last 28 years has acquired a broad experience of environmental noise prediction, measurement and assessment from a variety of industrial and commercial sources, initially in the public sector working as an Environmental Health Officer and for the last 17 years working within the private sector. Working with TNEI since July 2007 Stephen has been involved with the practical assessment of over forty wind farm projects across the UK, together with numerous smaller wind turbine assessments, applications and appeals.
TNEI undertakes specialist noise investigations and provides a wide range of advice and services - from initial desktop studies and baseline surveys through to detailed assessments, planning submissions, compliance monitoring and support for appeals and Public Inquiries. The team are competent in a range of acoustic disciplines with specialist knowledge of wind farm noise having assessed schemes ranging in size from a single turbine to large scale Section 36 developments (50MW+).
In addition to supporting our own assessments TNEI has also recently been involved in two schemes where we have been brought in at the Public Inquiry stage to review and update a noise assessment that has been undertaken by a third party consultant. An extensive range of in house equipment including sound level meters, wind monitoring masts and rain gauges ensures we can support multiple concurrent projects at any one time.