§ Mr. Simon ThomasTo ask the Secretary of State for Defence on how many occasions his Department has made a formal objection to the siting of wind turbines in tactical training areas; which sitings were objected to; and on what grounds. [23136]
§ Dr. MoonieOver the last two years, the Ministry of Defence has objected to 26 proposals to site wind farms within the tactical training areas (TTA). The details of these are withheld for reasons of commercial confidentiality in accordance with Exemption 13 of the Code of Practice on Access to Government Information. The objections relate to the physical obstruction that would be caused by the wind farms within areas where fixed wing aircraft are engaged in operational low flying (OLF) training down to 100 ft minimum separation distance (MSD). Outside the TTA low flying fixed wing aircraft are not permitted to fly below 250 feet MSD. In order to preserve the tactical freedom to practise OLF it is important that the number of tall obstacles, such as wind turbines, is minimised within those areas. For this reason an objection is often, but not always, raised to proposals to locate turbines in any of the TTA.
§ Mr. Simon ThomasTo ask the Secretary of State for Defence what his Department's policy is regarding the siting of wind turbines in tactical training areas. [23138]
§ Dr. MoonieI refer the hon. Member to the answer I gave on 22 March 2001,Official Report, column 297W, to my hon. Friend the Member for Wirral, South (Mr. Chapman).