Winterbourne Wind Farm

I have lived in Walcha for 40 years. My 2 major concerns are what happens to the turbines at the end of the project and the impact the project is going to have on the roads.
1. At the end of the project, if the owner of the project declares bankruptcy, they will no longer be responsible for decommissioning. Who will then be responsible for removing the turbines and infrastructure.
2. Having seen the state of the Aberbaldie Rd after slightly increased traffic, what is this huge project going to do to our local roads. How will it impact the Oxley Hwy and Thunderbolts Way and the local roads. There is also the risk of safety on the roads with all the increased heavy vehicles. There is a real risk of impatient drivers attempting to overtake where it is not safe and creating very dangerous situations.
The money spent by companies investing in renewable projects would be better spent investing in solar power in the cities. There are thousands of acres of rooftops in cities that could all have solar panels attached. Why can't we use this space for solar generation. There would be no need for all the transmission lines that are required for these more remote projects.
Where is all the water for this project going to come from? Water is a precious commodity in our community. We have been through drought and know the value of this resource.
Noise is going to be an issue. We live in a quiet and peaceful community, not an industrial one. The constant irritating noise has a real impact on a lot of people.
Being so close to the National Park will have a very negative effect on bird life and the ability to fight fires.
Thank you for the opportunity to make this submission
Jenny Hoy

Hi my name is Kimberley Cameron, my family and I live on a multigenerational farm near Walcha. We have a strong belief we need to leave our farms and businesses to the next generation in a better condition than when we took it on. I am writing In regards to the Winterbourne Wind Project, I personally strongly object to it going ahead for the following reasons,
1. While the town of Walcha itself is being graced with 10km distances from turbines, people in homesteads are only being given 2km - if that. We know the turbines will be heard in town, particularly on cold days. It is treating people in homesteads as second class citizens. The EIS indicates noise will only be heard from 1.5km away, I have however been told by people who produce this information (noise studies) – that the study can be completed and results can be made to favour the developers desires.
2. Turbines are being put in front of peoples homes. I find it un-Australian as “a man’s home is his castle” and the developer would have you believe – beauty is in the eye of the beholder; I doubt many people would find the turbine views aesthetically pleasing. It will destroy our visual amenity. Some families I know are selling up because they have been surrounded by wind turbines, beautiful families who have dedicated their lives to Walcha and the community. It is a tragedy. I know of many others who will move away if this goes ahead. We have the most beautiful landscapes at Walcha, and some of the most prime agricultural land in Australia and we aren’t making any more of it. We are known for where the wild rivers run. This will ruin our tourism of our pristine landscapes, national parks and New England views. I am truly surprised there is a thought process that it will increase tourism. If the tourism argument was so compelling, my argument is, why aren’t they being constructed off Sydney harbor or Bondi, to increase tourism there? Would the argument not be the same – that it would ruin a beautiful tourist attraction and aesthetics? Not to mention people will not want to travel here for the duration of the construction phase because of the outlined traffic delays – I am sure we can safely say that we won’t be getting Travellers coming through to Port Macquarie and beyond stopping in our town.
3. Thelocation of the turbines are too close to the national park and the gorge - they will be seen from the viewing platform at Apsley Gorge. It is going to industrialize our landscape and destroy/ critically endanger our flora and fauna. Once this is gone we will not get it back, I know the developer is happy to pay a 64 million dollar offset, but as a community we will lose this forever. The EIS document has identified multiple threatened flora and fauna species as well as fragile ecosystems to be significantly impacted by the project. Over 200 hectares of habitat will be destroyed, it cannot simply be recreated somewhere else? I would argue that we should put them in an already industrialized area – like Sydney – close to transmission and energy storage and close to the people in electorates who voted for renewable energy. I am sure residents would be unhappy to have turbines in view of their multi-million dollar assets and multi-million dollar views? But we are labelled as NIMBYs if we don’t want to take on the burden of electricity production for the masses? And the developer and government appears happy to have wind farms in close proximity to our assets and national parks. After Voice for Walcha put a survey to the community regarding the impending wind farms, a very strong consensus objected, I believe over 80% of a 500person sample size – quite significant. How can the government allow for a project like this to go ahead with very strong community opposition. Are government representatives not meant to serve in their constituents’ best interests and desires? It is strongly evident what the Walcha Community desires – no wind farms in this region.
4. The EIS document put out by Winterbourne Wind is obtuse, poorly written and incorrect in several aspects. An appendices shows "views of the turbines" from behind a tree? I am surprised this was allowed to be published with so many errors and regarding such a large-scale project. In my mind it is quite insulting to us as a community- that the developer doesn’t care enough for the community to put together a correct and succinct document and it is the opinion of many locally that it was done so to put off people reading it so they wouldn't bother putting in a submission. I find this quite unethical. It appears to me that Walcha are being treated like second class citizens by the developer. A developer who is uninterested in engaging with the community, who is trying to supplement their business that are now not as lucrative in Europe where wind farms have been proven to be unreliable.
5. It has divided a very close-knit community. The only people for this project are the developer themselves and the host landholders, potentially the government to push net zero, but at what cost? It will severely affect others in several ways, including health, stress, devaluing of land and assets, it will also reduce the ability for others to make an income.
6. It will reduce my ability to make an income. With the increased travel time from Walcha to Tamworth, estimates have it doubling my commute - already a 3 hour round trip. I have a young family and I hold a full-time permanent position at Tamworth Hospital. Will the developer provide compensation to people like me who will be severely affected by transport issues. There are numerous places unsafe to overtake large vehicles on this road.
7. There is also not sufficient evidence to convince me that they are safe for the health of humans at such close proximity, the research on the proposed size of these turbines has not been seen at large.
8. Host families, Neighbours and Neighbours Neighbours have been bullied by the developer. From what I understand families are being manipulated and the project has largely been very secretive and withholding of information. Neighbouring pastoralists have been shown maps of possible locations of turbines but told “not to tell or show anyone” (ourselves included), how is this consulting the community at large, the developer was not even aware of some homesteads on the projects vicinity. As mentioned above, community consultation has been very poor, There are many members of the community who have had awful dealings with the developer. Not to mention the *glossed over articles released in the "Walcha Advocate" or too much information in the EIS document. If I ever submitted an assignment like this EIS document like Winterbourne Wind did whilst studying at University, it would have been failed immediately. In the rush to get to net zero, I implore you to not ruin our region in the process, lets think carefully about what we are doing to achieve this result, is it worth it and is there a better way of doing this?
9. The inability to fight fires efficiently with the turbines where they are. We have had major dramas very recently with Bushfires which were hard enough to handle let alone if he had to consider the Turbines. Don't we have short memories? I ask the government, what happens to our assault of fire by Air when visibility is poor? are you happy to further ruin prime agricultural land by inability to fight fire as well as filling it with turbines and concrete - let alone the national park - will you be responsible for letting fire rip through there and destroying our precious remaining flora and fauna - doesn't sound very green to me. Also I am quite aware that the Airforce practice manoeuvres in our area - have you discussed with them how this interferes with their training? I didn't read about that in the EIS?
10. The proposed community fund is laughable. Walcha is being sent to slaughter and is receiving absolute minimum benefit from it. It appears this project will neither bring benefit nor long term employment for locals. They will all be brought in workers - not employing many living directly in Walcha. What about the use of natural resources? I see there isn't permission yet to use local Walcha water? will that need to be trucked in too? will that further elongate mine and many others work commute to Tamworth? so much hasn't been discussed with the community.
11. The removal of the Neighbour benefit scheme - where Neighbours are paid for the inconvenience of the wind turbines destroying their way of life, and devaluing their land. It seems it was just a play to get the neighbours to sign confidentiality agreements to get the project to its current spot. What else will be removed? the community benefit fund? It appears we have no guarantees if this project goes ahead.
12. Turbines have been pushed onto landholders and bullied them into getting them in some cases. Some aren't able to make a submission or it will be breaking their contractual agreements. Lets not copy other countries where this model of energy production has failed. let’s go for a more reliable source of power. For you reading this, would you be pleased if hundreds of 230m turbines were placed in your front yard, knowing they aren’t the most reliable way of producing energy moving forward? With no definitive decommissioning plan? The Walcha District should receive free power for the inconvenience and destruction. I am disgusted this has been bought to our beautiful community - lets get real with green energy - Turbines are going nowhere fast. they are unreliable and massive eye sores. Lets not pepper our beautiful prime agricultural land with these monstrosities and find an alternative that doesn't destroy communities and get in the way of us producing this nations food and fibre.
Regards,
Kimberley Cameron

My family are generational farming family. Our children are 6th generation, who have now returned to the farm. I want them to be apart of the Walcha community and the proposed development has divided our close knit community. Families and friendships have been divided by this Wind Farm development.
I have concerns regarding the visual aspect from all over our property and in particular our home.
I also have concerns for the Koala habitat which has returned to our property after many years following fires and storm damage and we believe the Koala population will be greatly affected if the proposed wind farm developments go ahead in our Woolbrook/Walcha district.
I am not opposed to renewable energy, however I believe that wind farm developments are not the answer in this particular area.

Given where our property is situated I am very disappointed in the way these developers have handled this proposed project and brought angst and anxiety to our community members and turned people against one another by not allowing them to discuss the issues openly and not consulting the community as a whole.

We are generational farming family. Our children are 6th generation, who have now returned to the farm.
The proposed development has divided our close knit community. Families and friendships have been divided by this Wind Farm development. We want our children to be part of a close knit community as we have been, before all of this division with this proposed development occurred.
We do not want wind farm developments to come to the district. We have concerns regarding the visual aspect from our homes in particular.
We have concerns regarding the destruction of the biodiversity in the district. Koala habitat has returned and been sited on our property after many years following fires and storm damage and we believe the Koala population will be affected detrimentally by the wind farm developments proposed.
We are not opposed renewable energy, however we believe that wind farm developments are not the answer in this particular area.

As a Director of SRC Rural Spreaders, I have a number of serious concerns about the Winterbourne Wind project. I object to this project going ahead in Walcha. Our whole business (and profit) is based on a strict adherence to driver and delivery/pickup timetables. Firstly, our product has to arrive in Walcha (and it can either be delivered to the farms or to the fertilizer company in town), and then we have to get the product to our clients on farms. This part alone will be drastically impacted by the increased transport delays from Winterbourne Wind. Some of these products also need to be spread according to a very tight timeframe (weather wise), and any delay caused anywhere around Walcha will mean both us and the clients are impacted financially. We will lose customers, and we may not be able to continue to function as a business. I am also concerned about the project's water usage because our business requires large amounts of water on hand to wash down trucks in order to comply with biosecurity measures. As a final comment, I would say that it is businesses like ours that help to keep the local and national economy going. I dislike the fact that much of our hard-earned taxes go toward subsidies to prop up wind and solar power, which in turn gives our business high power prices and an unstable supply of electricity.

I work as a Logistics Manager in Walcha for Betts Transport, and have been doing this job for over 12 years. Through my job I speak to many people around the district and my overwhelming conclusion is that most people are very unhappy about the Winterbourne Wind project. They feel that there has been almost no consultation with the local community and people feel that the project will negatively affect their lives and our town. The transport delays and road damage that this project will cause, will mean that my job will be almost impossible. I may not even have a job in Walcha due to the company profits being eroded due to these issues. Moreover, the proposed transport route for the project goes right past the entrance of Betts Transport. This is an impending disaster. Personally, I also do not wish to see or hear these massive turbines, or live in an industrial landscape. Our local beautiful, clear night skyline will be decimated by the lights on top of these things, resulting in the skyline looking like a Christmas tree. Additionally, with the increased amount of wind and solar power into our grid, I am concerned about the lack of baseload electricity for homes and businesses. Quite apart from the mining and minerals required for turbines, solar panels and batteries, batteries as backup do not currently exist in any sort of useful form for the national power grid. Industry in Australia cannot function on expensive and unreliable electricity. I feel that we should be looking very closely at what is currently happening in places like Germany, Spain and California.

SRC Transport is a husband and wife owned and run company, that provides transport Australia-wide. Our business is dependent on being able to run to a strict schedule. Delays anywhere locally will negatively impact our delivery start and end times. All delivery times will be impacted. Our main transport into and out of Walcha from the South is the same road that the turbines and associated infrastructure will be using to get to Walcha. There is nowhere to safely pass for a B-Double between Bendemeer and Walcha, which in turn will cause delays and possibly major accidents. This problem will directly impact our company profits. Additionally, I am very concerned about the access and use of local materials and infrastructure (such as gravel and water), and I have seen in other areas that this creates problems for many other businesses in the town. I am also personally concerned about the disposal of the turbine blades, as they are not currently recyclable. This will also have a negative impact on the natural surroundings of our beautiful little town.

I support the Winterbourne Wind Farm projects due to the long term community benefits, its detailed submission to protect and preserve the project environment and the carbon emissions this project will offset once operational.

I strongly object to the Winterbourne Wind project going ahead in Walcha. I am a local Real Estate Agent in Walcha, and we currently have no rentals available and only 2 houses left on the market for sale. This has been an ongoing problem for at least 12 months. The windfarm project will put extra pressure on our community with availability of housing. We also know that these wind projects do not provide long term employment, so the intermittent nature of the jobs will only serve to add to this availability issue. My office is located at the main roundabout in town, and we already have traffic congestion problems. I am required to travel right around the district to conduct property inspections and appraisals. The increased traffic (and particularly the heavy vehicle aspect) will both increase my hours per day and cause delays in appointment times for our clients. This is not conducive to growing the success of our Real Estate business. Additionally, through my work, I see the cost of energy impacts for many of our clients. Some of these clients live week to week, and any further increases in their electricity bill will cause misery. The subsidy system of wind and solar only serves to hurt these types of people the most. Many of our recent purchases have been tourists who have passed through town, fallen in love with the peace and nature of Walcha, and bought a property. No tourists will want to come and look at turbines, let alone live around them. As a final comment, I would say that the division within the community that this project has created, is the worst thing to ever happen to this town. I am born and bred here, and I have never seen anything like this. The Winterbourne Wind project will impact our lives in a negative way.

I object to the Project in full, with my reasons outlined below, and detailed in the attachment.
1.0 Biodiversity
2.0 Poor Site Selection
3.0 Poor Consultation
4.0 Pressure on road system
4.1 Road infrastructure pressure - Pre construction
4.2 Road infrastructure pressure - During construction
4.3 Road infrastructure pressure - After construction
5.0 Traffic Impact on Community
6.0 Resources
6.1 Water
6.2 Gravel
7.0 Neighbour Fund
8.0 Aviation Services
9.0 Bushfire Control
10.0 Visual Impact
11.0 Decommissioning Plan (or lack of)
12.0 Errors in document indicating lack of professionalism developer

I think project will be amazing for the Walcha district. The community fund will be a very generous addition to our community for local sporting clubs, schools and local businesses.
For host landholders this will give them income security and the possibility of inter generational land transfer.
The proposed turbines are mostly sited on unproductive land. The construction of these turbines will assist in the control of noxious weeds and feral pests because of increased access to the sites.
The construction of access roads to the turbine sites will assist in farm production due to greater access for farm equipment and stock transport.
I believe our climate is changing and anything that will assist the reductions of greenhouse gases through renewable energy in the production of electricity which we desperately require has to be a good thing.
The landholders have all worked together in the development of lease agreements so as to ensure harmony amongst hosts.
There has been community engagement for those willing to listen at events such as the Walcha Show for many years and several open days which have been very well presented and highly informative.

I would like to see this project go ahead as this country needs the renewable energy it will provide. This development is very fitting for the location the closeness to the main power grid and would be a huge boost financially to the individuals and the region which this area badly needs.
Unfortunately there has been some local opposition to this proposal, which has really mainly been emotional and very little based on real facts.
I fully support this project and hope that common sense will see it proceed

I am very passionate about the environment generally, and very worried about the world in general with regards to climate change. Specifically the very clear climate change issues that are occurring in Australia (floods, fires, droughts etc) terrify me as an older person, and I worry about the state we are leaving our country in for our future generations.

I strongly believe we are not doing nearly enough quickly enough to avoid even further disasters for us and the world over. Whilst Australia is moving a little faster now than it was in the previous government, I would still like to see more done right now and the support of projects that will provide a faster transition to renewables escalated. It will provide future generations with a better world, benefit local areas by way of more jobs and greater skills, and allow us all to live more sustainable lives in the future.

The New England area is a wonderful area to inject some of these initiatives into and whilst the climate is clearly changing fast and some Coal projects such as Eraring are closing earlier (which its good) we still need many more projects such as the Ruby Hills Wind Project and all the other Walcha Energy projects along with other large solar projects and wind and pumped hydro energy storage in New England and across Australia to be approved urgently so they can get going sooner rather than later.

THE CLIMATE IS CHANGING FAST - WE NEED WINTERBORNE WIND TO CHANGE US TO RENEWABLES URGENTLY. Please support this asap.

After living in Walcha for 21 years, this wind turbine project raises a number of concerns, particularly after reading the EIS, which seems to suggest a lack of planning and consultation for a project that will significantly affect the day to day lives and wellbeing of all those living in the community for an extended period of time. This lack of research and transparency shown by the developer has convinced me they are overconfident and underprepared for a number of key issues that will arise throughout the construction, operation and decommissioning process.

The lack of consultation, which is not highlighted well in the EIS was a cause of concern to me, not only because many stakeholders were not adequately informed of the project by Winterbourne, but it also suggests that the developer is not as open and forthcoming as one would hope for a huge project such as this. If the developer is not willing to consult stakeholders before the project has begun, providing key information to those involved, then it causes major concern of how they will treat the community during the construction and future phases. Lack of regard for the Walcha community from such a powerful developer could cause a number of worrying issues during the long life of the project.

High volumes of traffic, increased requirement for road works and massive vehicles carrying oversize loads are not only a huge concern for those living on the major roads to construction sights, but also to the entire community of Walcha. Those living on these roads such as Oxley Highway, will have their daily commutes significantly impacted as once quiet and safe roads are transormed into highways swarming with oversized, slow vehicles, encouraging unsafe driving and overtaking from commuters. Those living on these roads will have their safety compromised, as well as spending significantly more time on the road, and less time with their families and for relaxation. Additionally, these conditions will significantly impact the tourism desire for Walcha, which is a significant factor for many businesses within Walcha.

Walcha is a community that was recently affected by the 2019-2020 bushfire season, and the increased fire risk posed by the project is extremely threatening to the community. The project plan fails to commit to a number of strategies outlined by local fire departments, such as allowing flight corridors through the project boundaries. This means that fighting fires throughout the gorges North and West of Walcha, which is already extremely difficult due to lack of access, will be further hindered as arial water fighting units are forced to take longer routes from the water source to any fires, and vice versa. As recent bushfires have demonstrated, uncontrolled fires have a devestating effect on local communities and the project increasing the risk of this is a major threat to Walcha.

For these reasons I object to the Winterbourne Wind Farm project.

Attached document

An extremely large-scale wind turbine project will not only impact that landowners who are being generously compensated, but will impact direct neighbours heavily, as well as people living within a large radius of the project. The land around these projects will experience capital value loss, loud noises as well as flashing lights and heavy traffic disruption (road-wear and truck queues). Despite these heavy disadvantages to the neighbours and nearby properties, they are not being compensated at all due to the scrapping of the neighbour benefit fund. The inability for the people living here to have a say in a project that will heavily affect their living and the value of their land without due compensation is daylight robbery.
The project planning involves mass clearing of vegetation from areas that are crucial wildlife corridors to the National Park. The avoiding of building this project directly on a National park does not mean they are not directly and negatively impacting said national park. Additionally, huge wind turbines in the direct line between the gorges and the National Park mean Wedge-tail Eagles and Raptors must travel through the construction. The risk of colliding with these turbines greatly increases with the size of the project.
The project no-fly zones will affect crucial rural airstrips, affecting crucial tasks such as firefighting, fertilizing and seeding.

I want to start by saying that this project won’t just impacting the people around the windfarms with all the noise and the shadow flicker coming from the wind turbines, but it will also affect the vast community of Walcha for several reasons. One of the reasons this will affect the community is the large amount of traffic coming and leaving Walcha, this will greatly impact the people who come and go from Walcha as their daily routine to go to work or just to get the groceries. these trips will double or more intime. Furthermore, there are children that travel to and from school and these trucks driving through Walcha will just add another hazard to these children.

Apsley Falls is one of the most popular attractions for tourists in Walcha as it is a beautiful and peaceful place. This project will destroy both those ideas as they will have to take down a huge majority of the trees and destroy the habitat of endangered species which we take pride in taking care of. not only this but the noise coming from the turbines will destroy the serenity and make Apsley Falls just another spot for a project.

Some of my reasons for objecting are: (1) The developers lack of information given to the community of Walcha. (2)The negative impact on Walcha's growing tourism industry during construction and after.(3)The turbines close proximity and impact on the Oxley Wild Rivers National Park. (4)A small agricultural town the size of Walcha should not have to take the massive load of industrial sized development proposed by this developer. (5)The towns health, firefighting and emergency services will be severely affected during and after construction. (6}The developer has no plan for decommissioning but will reassess this in 15 years time after construction presuming the project has not been onsold.

As an Australian citizen I consider it imperative that projects like the Winterbourne Wind Farm proceed to enable Australia (and the world) to transition its energy production from traditional fossil fuels to renewable generation sources. It is also evident from this EIS, noting that I am not a member of the local community, that the proponent has undertaken a robust investigation of the impacts of this project including substantial community consultation and the long-term benefits significantly outweigh what will be relatively minor inconveniences (most of which appear to occur during construction).

I have done plenty of work in countries that load shed because they don’t have enough electricity to supply to the people when the industry demands the power to keep the factories going. Electricity supply in Australia is going to become a disaster very soon if we don’t act.

Walcha has a proven wind resource, and we have a chance to improve things, but the small group of very outspoken and oppressive people concerns me. They lack foresight and have been intimidating others for months now. They think they know what is best for our town and our community and will do anything to kill the project by falsely claiming no community consultation, traffic impacts, bushfire risks, loss of biodiversity and overall threat to our quality of life.

The worst claim I think I’ve heard is their claim that productive agricultural land will be lost. What a load of nonsense, do they know what was done to that land to make it so productive? The land was cleared of trees, the native pastures were replaced, and it was fertilised, otherwise it would still be goat country.

Enough.

These arguments aren’t new. The claims are unfounded, ignore facts and cannot be allowed to continue. We’re running down our town and the future of our youth who deserve the same opportunity we had: to live and work in Walcha and build a sound future here.

Check out the facts of Winterbourne Wind, the development under attack. This thoughtful proposal has benefits that include much-needed jobs, community investment and an injection of money into our dwindling town.

I was born in Walcha in 1950, and 72 years later, Walcha is still a great place to live. The community is being battered by misinformation and fear tactics. The right way to address this problem is with good planning and vision. Please look at this project in a positive and proactive way and not be taken in by a regressive point of view.