Almost two decades ago residents in the towns and villages near moorland straddling Greater Manchester and Lancashire were left in uproar. Plans had been submitted to build 26 wind turbines on a large area between Rochdale and Rossendale. The Scout Moor Wind Farm project sparked the beginning of a turbulent saga that continues to this day.
Now, almost 20 years later, people in Rochdale, Edenfield, and Rawtenstall are faced with yet another plan for a wind farm – and this one is expected to be England’s biggest. What has been named "Scout Moor II" would see 21 bigger and more powerful wind turbines built next to the ones already standing on the moorlands. The Scout Moor wind farm near Rochdale (Picture: Cubico Sustainable Investments) They would be capable of powering around 100,000 homes per year, which is around 10 per cent of Greater Manchester’s needs, according to the renewable energy developer Cubico Sustainable Investments.
For the people of Norden, who live directly south of the current wind farm, this is all too familiar. It’s involved the type of battles between bitter rivals you would expect in a blockbuster film series. There have been winners and losers on both sides.
Local politician Cllr James Gartside has represented the village of Norden since the 1980s, and he’s not sure what the community’s response will be this time. Cllr James Gartside, of Rochdale Council Back in the mid-2000s when the first wind farm was tabled by Peel, the Norden councillor .