Residents lose wind farm case

[caption id="attachment_36857" align="alignright" width="405"] VILLAGE VIEW: This photograph taken by Blue Horizon Bay resident Bob Bell shows the view of the wind farm from the road to the village[/caption]

A GROUP of Blue Horizon Bay residents, who maintain they were not properly consulted regarding the construction of the Metrowind Van Stadens Wind Farm project, have lost yet another court bid after their application for leave to appeal was dismissed.

The residents, represented by The Wind Farm Concerned Group, brought the application to the Port Elizabeth High Court seeking a review of the decision of the minister of water and environmental affairs who refused to grant condonation after the residents filed an appeal too late.

The residents claim they were not properly consulted and that the public participation process was flawed.

In the latest ruling, Judge Glenn Goosen said he was of the view that the application brought by the residents did not have any reasonable prospect of success.

"I do not consider that there is any prospect that another court would come to a different conclusion in relation to the first respondent's [the minister's] lack of standing in this review application," Goosen said.

One of the residents, Robert Bell, said yesterday the group were disappointed that the application was dismissed but said they were waiting for their legal team who were studying the judgment. Their advice was expected next week, he said.

"We believed that we had good grounds for success in this appeal. We believe Judge Goosen has not considered the main issues in terms of the original judgment and we now need to decide if we can take it on review to the Supreme Court of Appeal."

Bell said the application was for a review of the refusal by the minister to grant condonation of the late appeal against the department's decision to authorise the final environmental impact report which cleared the way for the developers to build the wind farm.

"We will continue, based on legal advice, but our major grounds remain the fact that we did not have the opportunity to file earlier because we were not properly consulted."

While construction of the wind farm, located on the outskirts of Port Elizabeth, is already completed, residents believe it still poses potential negative health and environmental impacts for the village, which is nestled in a nature conservancy.

Bell said the Wind Farm Concerned Group was formed after 352 residents from Blue Horizon Bay signed a petition against the construction of the wind farm.

Bell believed there were grounds to continue the case, but that would be a group decision.

Metrowind Van Stadens Wind Farm developer Donald McGillivray said the company was happy with the result.

"The project is good for South Africa, for the Eastern Cape, for Nelson Mandela Bay and for the residents of Blue Horizon Bay.

"We have always had a good relationship with the residents and there are only a handful who have been opposed to it."

McGillivray said the nine-turbine wind farm began commercial operation in February. - Lee-Anne Butler