A PROTEST group are to hold an emergency meeting to voice their opposition to Honda’s plans for three 120m wind turbines at their east Swindon site.

Ad hoc campaign group Ill Wind is urging residents in Stratton and South Marston to raise any objections before the consultation period ends on August 13 at a meeting at the Village hotel in South Marston at 7pm tonight.

Honda, in conjunction with green energy firm Ecotricity, are looking to follow several other buisness in using green energy to power its plant, including the Green Park in Reading. The three turbines combined would produce enough electricity to power 5,300 homes a year, an Ecotricity spokesman said.

Hazel Beaver, a campaigner who lives near the proposed site in South Marston, said she thought some residents did not realise the scale of the turbines.

She said: “I think people are expecting them to be small like the ones at Watchfield but what they don’t realise is it’s in comparison to the one near Reading.

“Also there’s no legal requirement for how far away they can be from housing and the one in South Marston is only 600m away.

“We are concerned it’s been kept ever so quiet – only some people in closest houses have received planning application consultations. I live just a few hundred metres away and I have not got notification.

Mrs Beaver said residents had several concerns regarding noise levels, ‘shadow flicker’ and the height of the turbines.

Neil Burchell, chair of the group, said: “We have been out in both South Marston and Stratton handing out leaflets.”

A spokesman for Ecotricity said: “Ecotricity is confident that three windmills at Honda will make a vital contribution to helping halt climate change by preventing 7,500 tonnes of CO2 going into the atmosphere every year.

“Throughout the development, Ecotricity and Honda have been available to answer any questions and queries about the proposals, and all queries received to date have been answered personally as they were received.”

Statistics provided by Ecotricity suggest the sound level of a wind farm at 350m away is between 35 and 45 decibels, less than a busy office (60dB) and city traffic (90dB).

A spokesman also said there were several Ecotricity-operated wind farms which stand within 500m of residential areas - the closest being at the Michelin Tyre Factory in Dundee, which is 340m from the nearest home.