AN expert on sleep disorders will tell a North-East conference this weekend that wind turbines should not be built within two kilometres of homes to avoid health problems.
Dr Chris Hanning, a retired NHS sleep disorder specialist, is one of a number of experts due to speak at a conference in Darlington on Saturday.
Organised by the Bolam Area Action Group, the Wind Action Conference, at Polam Hall, will bring together 140 opponents of wind farms from Devon up to the Highlands of Scotland.
Dr Hanning, who founded one of the largest NHS hospital services of its kind in the UK, in Leicester, has reviewed more than 40 international reports on the impact of wind farm noise.
He is convinced that building wind turbines within two kilometres of homes will lead to health problems, because of the low frequency noise produced by turbine blades.
“If a wind turbine is within two kilometres there is a high risk of sleep disturbance and a high risk of ill health,” Dr Hanning told The Northern Echo.
“If they are built offshore they may have a point but they should not be placed too close to people’s homes.
“If the industry and the Government agreed to a twokilometre setback, all of this fuss would die down,” he added.
The retired consultant said the repetitive, low-level “thump” produced by wind turbines was “several times more annoying than road traffic or air noise”.
Under certain wind conditons the turbine noise could be “very intrusive”, he added.
John Wilson, a member of the action group which is opposing the construction of wind turbines near the village of Bolam, near Darlington, said: “We are expecting 140 people from all over the country, from the South-West to Scotland and Wales. It is going to be a truly national conference.”
People who say their lives are blighted by wind turbines are due to speak at the event.
Jeremy Nicholson, director of the Energy Intensive Users’ Group, will talk about the economics of wind power.
The British Wind Energy Association insists that every reputable scientific study has shown that wind turbines are safe.
For more information visit windconf.co.uk
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