Proximity to our homes

The land surrounding the proposed windfarm site is zoned rural residential. All roads leading to the site travel through rural residential developments. Ordinary people have built homes and invested in their properties because they want to live a quiet, country lifestyle.

The nearest residential property is only 500 metres from the site of proposed turbines. Hundreds of other residences are close enough to be disturbed by noise pollution, and visual pollution, including shadow flicker and red, flashing aircraft warning lights.

The turbines are designed to run 24 hours a day, 365 days a year, and lit at night, so this intrusion will be constant.

In February 2005, wind farm developer Wind Power abandoned a project to build 20 turbines at Clarke's Hill, Victoria because it would have been within a kilometre of homes (The Age, 16 February 2005). Why does EHN want to build a windfarm so close to our homes?

Construction traffic – say goodbye to quiet country roads

Homes along the equipment and materials delivery routes will be affected by traffic and associated noise and dust.

Using the smaller Woodlawn Wind Farm EIS as basis for comparison, people living on Woolcara Lane and surrounding roads can expect a heavy vehicle every 75 seconds. That is 400 heavy vehicle movements each 10-hour day. Roads affected include Kings Highway, the narrow Captains Flat Road, and unsealed Woolcara Lane (pictured left). This will take heavy traffic on local roads, past people's homes for years during construction.

Articulated vehicles carting gravel, rock and aggregate for construction of road and turbine foundations will use local quarries at Williamsdale or Old Cooma Road in the south, or other local quarries to the north. Articulated vehicles will travel on local roads including through the centre of Queanbeyan, King's Highway, Burra Road, Captain's Flat Road, and Carwoola. Components such as blades, nacelles and towers will be brought through Bungendore in convoy on articulated vehicles.

Living with a windfarm

Studies overseas have shown that the health of those living near wind-plants can deteriorate due to headaches, depression and other ailments. Noise, shadow-flicker, voltage leakage and radiation have been blamed for destroying the quality of life of people who suddenly find they have a wind farm as a neighbour.

Locally, the disruption to sleep patterns caused by noise is one of the recurring complaints from people unfortunate enough to live near wind farms.

Residents of Toora, Victoria, complain of constant noise following the construction of 12 turbines in 1999:

When the wind blows from the right angle, the night goes thump, thump, thump like a rock band has cut loose in a neighbouring paddock. On these nights, retired dairy farmers Terry and Kat Hurst are reminded they are in the middle of a wind farm and any chance of tranquility or sleep are gone. (How a dream was blown away, The Age, 5 May 2003)

People living near a wind farm on the Atherton Tablelands in Queensland complain of noise so loud and constant that they are forced to close their windows and turn the air conditioner on high so they can sleep at night. (Residents rail against the wind, The Courier-Mail, 4 October, 2004).

On the Southern Tablelands, where a wind farm has been constructed, people living nearby complain of tinnitus and constant headaches since the wind farm started operation (Wind farms a health time bomb, The Land, 31 May 2005). At Crookwell, farmer Col Dooley likens the close-up sound of the existing eight turbines on a windy day to "a stock crate on a gravel road with the decks down":

"It really drives you made – the rattling and banging" Mr Dooley said. "There's no release from them". ('Driven mad' by noise', The Land, 14 October 2004).

These examples come from much smaller-scale wind farms (the largest has 20 turbines) than the 60 turbine proposal on Molonglo Ridge. How much worse will the effects be with three times the number of turbines?

Proximity to our homes

Construction traffic – say goodbye to quiet country roads

Living with a windfarm

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