Plan for England's largest wind farm reduced again

3 days ago

John Greenwood,Local Democracy Reporting Serviceand

Andrew Barton,Yorkshire

News image — Walshaw Moor in Calderdale could become home to 34 wind turbines

BBC The image shows Walshaw Moor in Calderdale with a solitary stone farmhouse in a shallow valley. A narrow road winds through the scene, curving past the house. Surrounding the property are dry‑stone walls that divide the fields into irregular shapes. — Walshaw Moor in Calderdale could become home to 34 wind turbines

Plans for what would have been the largest onshore wind farm in England have been scaled back for a second time by a developer.

Calderdale Energy Park originally planned to build 65 turbines on land at Walshaw Moor near Hebden Bridge, but scaled the number of turbines back to 41 in April 2025.

The firm said following research it had further reduced its plan to 34 turbines.

However, campaigners against the proposed scheme said even in its reduced form the energy park would be an "environmental disaster for the countryside, wildlife, cultural heritage and people of Calderdale".

A spokesperson for Calderdale Energy Park, said: "Following a review of baseline survey data and design work, revised plans have been developed."

They said the proposed development would now see "the construction, operation, maintenance and decommissioning of an up to 34 turbine wind farm and associated infrastructure".

Save Walshaw Moor campaign group The image shows a moorland escarpment with large, weathered gritstone rocks forming a cliff edge. Below the rocks the hillside drops into a wide expanse of open moor covered in heather, grasses, and patches of green vegetation. — The scheme near Hebden Bridge would see the same number of turbines as at the current largest site

Campaign group Stop Calderdale Windfarm, said the further scaling back of the scheme showed the developer was "clearly on the defensive".

However, it said the latest proposals would still be "incredibly damaging" to the peat bogs on Walshaw Moor and would threaten "endangered ground-nesting birds which breed on this internationally important Special Area of Conservation and Special Protection Area".

The Local Democracy Reporting Service said the developer claimed the scheme would be capable of generating enough electricity to power the equivalent of approximately 250,000 homes and would "help meet the UK's need for low-carbon, homegrown energy".

But the campaign group said the turbines would "tower over the National Trust estate of Hardcastle Crags, Crimsworth Dean and Brontë Country".

A survey by Wadsworth Parish Council found 93% of people who responded were opposed to the scheme.

Currently the largest onshore wind farm in England is at Keadby in Lincolnshire, where there are 34 turbines. If the Calderdale Energy Park scheme is approved it would have the same number.

Calderdale Energy Park planning documents state the firm intends to submit a formal application to the Planning Inspectorate in November 2026.

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