This was the formal request for a Screening Opinion, in order to estabish whether an Environmental Impact Assessment would be required to support the planning application.

A planning application for a met mast was submitted in February 2008. The mast is used to gather essential local information about the wind energy resource at Oakland International.  The application was approved in May 2008.

Having established that an Environmental Impact Assessment was required, Wind Direct then contacted the council in order to agree the scope of the assessment. In this case, it was decided that noise and landscape were the most important issues.

Following planning approval, a  60m met mast was installed in June 2008 and has been gathering information about the wind speed and direction at Oakland.  Have you seen it?

Once the public consultation has finished, we hope to submit a planning application and accompanying Environmental Statement showing the findings of our assessments in November 2008.

Bromsgrove District Council will have a statutory obligation to determine planning applications within 16 weeks.  However, in practice it can often take longer. 

Once started, the total construction time will take about 6 months.

Once the wind farm is built, the turbines are then connected to Oakland International and all electrical systems tested.  When this is all in order, the wind farm be 'energised' and will start generating electricity.