Welcome to the Cotton Farm Action Group Website

Cotton Wind Farm

Energy giant Npower-renewables, part of RWE Group, is proposing to construct 8 massive wind turbines, up to 127m (416ft high) - amongst the largest in the UK - at Cotton Farm on the plateau overlooking the Ouse Valley in Cambridgeshire.

This website is run by a campaign group comprising residents from the surrounding villages of Graveley, Toseland, Great Paxton, Offord Cluny, Offord D'Arcy and Yelling. Its purpose is to provide information for local residents. The group's detailed objections to the proposal are set out on the Objections page.

If, once you have considered the information on this website, you are opposed to the proposed wind farm, please visit the Support page to register your views.

If you are still undecided but would like to discuss the issues further or find out more, please contact one of your village representatives (contact details) or contact Bev Gray on 01480 830868.

Where we are now

After the appeal decision by the Planning Inspector in December 2010 RWE npower sold the planning approval for Cotton Farm to another German Company, ‘RENERCO’. They, being a small to medium sized company with a turn over of about £50million, are based near Munich. Their core business, in Germany, was the installation and running of solar photovoltaic systems. This market is now saturated and with subsidy changes in the German energy market causing profit reduction. They expanded into wind energy, concentrating their expansion outside Germany, particularly the UK, in an effort to find new markets. They are currently developing three UK wind farm sites, all bought from RWE npower. Cotton Farm is the biggest.

RENERCO contracted another company, ‘Wind Prospect Ltd’, with head quarters in Cumbria, to build the wind farm. This company specialises in the development of wind farms on behalf of mostly foreign owners. Wind Prospect, in their turn, have sub contracted the actual work at Cotton Farm to R.G. Carters Civil Engineering. Work on the site commenced in early 2012 with the view of erecting the 8 x 127m high Repower NN90 turbines in the late autumn of 2012. Commissioning the turbines is due to be completed by the spring of 2013.

At the time of writing, October 2012, over 20,000 tonnes of crushed stone has been laid in track-ways and crane pads. Currently the site is seeing the pouring of thousands of tonnes on concrete into the bases of the turbines and the met mast. The sub-station and a trench carrying the grid connection has been made from the sub-station across the fields north of the Offords to connect to the National Grid.

The action group, councillors (Parish, District and County), the local MP's and the local people living in the villages of Graveley, Papworth St. Agnes, Toseland, Yelling, Great Paxton and the Offords do not want this wind farm next to their villages and homes. Already there is evidence of difficulty in selling homes locally.

These wishes have been over-ruled by the Government Inspectorate (PINS) at appeal. It is the opinion of the Action Group and professional people who have studied the original planning documents and the appeal inspectors decision, consider the decision is not sound. To this end the villagers of Graveley especially, the most affected village, are installing noise monitoring equipment to ensure the wind farm noise conditions are complied with. This has never been done before.

The latest information regarding the site and the noise monitoring programme the village of Graveley is undertaking can be accessed on our blog, or click 'Latest News'.