The Wattle Range Council’s development assessment panel says under the South Australian Government’s proposed changes to wind farm planning, it had no other choice but to approve a wind farm in the area.
Last night, the panel voted in favour of Infigen Energy’s 153-turbine Woakwine development near Millicent.
The Government’s interim reforms include the reinstatement of local councils as key authorities for assessing development applications for wind farms.
The panel’s presiding member, Liz Travers, says it has put a condition on Infigen relating to its use of local roads during construction.
“Part of their approval is that they must do a traffic management plan to the satisfaction of the council, so council will keep an eye on that and make sure that the right roads are used and they take consideration into school times and things like that,” she said.
She says the panel received nine representations against the development.
“It was a hard decision for us but we have to look at the EPA [Environment Protection Authority], they looked at and assessed that application and they have their guidelines for noise and their experts don’t have any concerns with the noise and where the turbines are spaced,” she said.
“So we just have to go with their expert opinion, don’t we?”
