By JONATHON HOWARD
CAPTION: A meeting to discuss the Rabbit Ridge Wind Farm proposal attracted about 70 residents from Pozieres, Cottonvale and Dalveen.
CAPTION: What residents need to know about the Rabbit Ridge Wind Farm.
ABOUT 70 residents attended a public meeting to discuss a wind farm proposal for Pozieres on Monday 17 June.
The Dalveen and Pozieres residents voiced their concerns for the proposed development put forward by Rabbit Ridge Wind Farm.
The wind farm was first raised about six month ago by businessmen Tim Lucas who offered an alternative to constructing a new power line from Warwick to ensure security of power to Stanthorpe.
While much debate has raged over the power route corridor, which was recently decided by the Power Community Reference Group, it would appear many residents are against the prospect of wind turbines.
The theme for the meeting, according to concerned Pozieres resident Dino Maritan, was “would you like to live next to a 150 metre wind turbine?”
Mr Maritan said from the communities’ response it would appear that almost 98 per cent of residents at the meeting were not in favour of the wind farm in the proposed area.
“The general consensus was that people were not against green energy, however a proposal of this kind should not be put into such a highly populated area,” he said.
“In a 2km range, 40 houses will be affected in the Pozieres, Cottonvale and Dalveen areas and in a 3km range more than 100 homes will be affected.”
According to Victoria legislation wind farms require at least 2km setbacks, NSW drafted similar legislation and SA Libs have stated they would legislate 2km setbacks.
“We as a community do not think that it is unreasonable to ask for the same consideration as other states,” Mr Maritan said.
Mr Maritan said another real threat to these communities was the devaluation of land.
“In other areas in Australia it has shown up to 30-50 per cent reduction in property prices,” he said.
“As we all know Stanthorpe is quite a unique area with all its small villages and is quite different to other areas in Australian that do have wind farms.
“Why do we want to spoil such a beautiful area?”
