A PLANNING application to remove a dozen turbines and replace them with six 115m high turbines has been lodged with South Lakeland District Council

RWE Innogy UK, one of the UK’s most experienced wind farm developers, has applied to decommission and re-power Kirkby Moor wind farm near Kirkby-in-Furness.

More than 100 local residents attended consultation events held by RWE and were able to feed into the design of the proposals.

Chris Gainey, RWE Innogy UK developer, said: “Kirkby Moor is a proven good location for an onshore wind farm. Onshore wind works today – and is providing an increasing proportion of the UK’s clean energy mix.

“There is widespread public support for onshore wind but it should be appropriately sited in tune with local preferences and environmental considerations. We have listened carefully to what people told us at our consultation events and made several adjustments to our plans. For instance, the number of turbines has been reduced and we have reduced the proposed height of the turbines in response to feedback from the community.”

RWE Innogy UK offers community investment packages and Kirkby Moor Replant is expected to deliver a windfall of between £1.2 million and £1.8 million to the community across its lifetime.

South Lakeland District Council will now undertake a formal consultation on the proposal.