A WIND turbine is to be erected outside an Accrington high school.
Despite concerns raised by residents living in the area, Hyndburn Council’s planning committee approved plans to build a 30ft turbine outside Accrington Academy on Queens Road West.
The turbine will go up on playing fields next to the school.
Resident Bridget Ward said: "Having a wind turbine so close to Queens Road West is dangerous to drivers. Queens Road West is not a motorway. It is in a residential area. Surely someone with some common sense would have put this turbine in a better place?
"I am all for saving the environment but I live very close to this school and will be able to see the turbine from my house and hear it constantly. Surely there is a better place than so close to a main road?"
The turbine is being built because of a planning condition which was approved when plans for the £16.1M school were debated last year. The condition stipulates that the school must produce 10 per cent of its own energy but the new wind turbine would only produce four per cent.
Councillor Susan Haworth said: "I think the turbine is too near to the road. But I wonder if putting a turbine here will set a precedent and soon they be popping up all over Hyndburn."
Councillor Brian Roberts said: "I have great reservations mainly because it’s in a residential area. I don’t see the wisdom in setting a precedent where every new building you build in Hyndburn has its own wind turbine. If we do have to have renewable energy, there are other ways to do it that may be more suitable."
Chief planning officer Simon Prideaux told the committee: "Government planning policy is very clear. We should be looking at renewable energy. It is in an urban area but there are no reasons why wind turbines should not be used in an urban area."
