The Silly Season
Once again the silly season has arrived, with a fresh wind farm planning application in the pipe line. This latest one is for ten turbines situated along the Scurf Dyke between Scurf Dyke Farm and the dyke’s confluence with the River Hull. It was of course very difficult for RES to find a less appropriate site than their last proposal, however they have managed it. The latest offering is even closer to the Tophill Low Bird reservation than the last one and straddles the Dyke, with eight turbines in the parish of Hutton Cranswick and two in the parish of Watton. This section of the dyke is a breeding ground for swans, with cygnets being seen as far west as Scurf Dyke Farm, whilst heron are regularly seen even further west.
The Dyke’s junction with the River Hull’s New Cut is part of the Rivers most picturesque area, which stretches from Tophill Low locks in the south to Frodingham Bridge in the north and contains the Frodingham Beck’s confluence with both West Beck and the Driffield Canal. Whilst the designated footpaths[1] along the original course of the River Hull, the eastern end of the dyke, and through to the Blue Keld are some of the few in the area that attract walkers other than The Ramblers and dog exercisers.
If I am correct and I am sure someone will correct me if I am in error, the ground, once nothing but Carr land and often below sea level, will be too soft and boggy for concrete foundations, in which case piling will be required. Given this RES would do well to remember that the upper most of the three water bearing chalk strata is only some thirty to forty feet down in this area. These chalk strata act as a giant reservoir and supply the vast majority of the domestic water to the area now known generically as Holderness. It seems like only yesterday that less than two miles away an oil test drill punched through the top most strata, and that the operators only succeeded in stemming the subsequent water flow with great difficulty. Shortly after WW II the hydrologist H C Versey noted that ‘The blow wells (kelds) contribute a source of danger if local pumping lowers the level for then the flow of the ‘well’ becomes reversed.’[2] What implications such an occurrence would have upon the East Riding’s water supply is left to the imagination. Whilst at the same time the many springs (kelds) are the main reason why this district with its traditionally low rainfall, is one of the most agriculturally productive in the country.
It was because this physically attractive area is also the most Northerly chalk stream
system in Britain with many rare plants that the area was awarded SSSI status, and
it was with great pride that English Nature in 1997 reported that one of most endangered
of large British predators, the Otter, was re-
However all this will merely be an aside to the villagers of Cranswick when measured against RES’s stated intention to use their Main Street as an access to the erection area of the turbines. The possible damage to the limited brick foundations of the mid 19th century houses and cottages, caused by the passage of the massive transporters, will hardly be compensated for by the fact that RES may resurface the road. Although it might extricate the East Riding Council from a potentially embarrassing situation. At the same time it is inconceivable that such transporters will be able to totally avoid running up on what is arguably the largest and most attractive Village Green in East Yorkshire. There by causing the damage done by various delivery vehicles in the recent past to pale into insignificance.
Chris Hughes
Laburnum Ave
[1] Footpaths 18,14 and 12 in the parish of Watton
[2] Versey H C The Hydrology of the East Riding of Yorkshire. In (Ed Henderson W) The Proceedings of the Yorkshire Geological Soc. Pp 238 Vol 27. 1949
[3] English Nature 1997. The Plain of Holderness Natural Area Profile
Bradshaw’s Flour Mill -
dwarfed by the giant wind turbine
Click on the picture to see the photo
full size
