Winterbourne Wind Farm

I am writing in support of the Winterbourne Wind Farm.
I would be proud to have this development in my hometown, on the farm where I grew up.
This project is an important step in Australia’s move towards 100% renewable energy. It is critical for future generations that we move away from using fossil fuels as a source of energy.

I am a grazier and running a business pregnancy testing over 50,000 cows annually in our local Walcha area. I do believe in change, I do believe in progress and I do believe in certain renewable energy. I feel this EIS has had inadequate consultation with our whole community, the indigenous and non-indigenous communities, the landowners or the business owners in our community.
I feel uninformed about the decommissioning process – if the developers aren’t taking responsibility for the decommissioning of the wind turbines at the end of their life span then the Walcha community are to become responsible and bare the onus of decommissioning the turbines which will end up as landfill in our local area. I can’t see the sustainable benefits of this process. There must be a better way.
The Walcha region is one of the most highly regarded livestock grazing areas in Australia. As referred to in the article Do wind turbines harm animals? By Mia Myklebust and Miriam Faftery 10 May 2012 there has been reports of increased miscarriage and loss of production in certain animal husbandry businesses world wide. While evidence is largely anecdotal, incidences of mass die offs of farm animals and increased miscarriages numbers certainly suggests that further research needs to be carried out on these particular areas if we are to continue with erecting such a large scale project of wind turbines in our local grazing area.
I certainly support and understand the need for Australia to reduce emissions. Australia does need to change in regard to our responsibility in reducing our carbon footprint however do we need to do this so close to National Parks, the UNESCO Gondwana Rainforests and prime rich agricultural land? I believe the project is planned for the wrong location and the scale of the project is too great for our small community to support and feed metropolitan energy needs.
I believe there must be better alternatives out there than digging up our resources, shipping them overseas, creating super sized wind turbines, shipping materials home, burning a whole lot of fossil fuels to run over 280 trucks per day, clearing out 207 ha and increasing loss of habitat and threatened species. This does not sound like a green, sustainable renewable future for our community nor our country to me? We must strive to do better but maybe we need to look at the bigger picture and actually make sustainable choices not just look to be doing “the right thing”.
I am opposed to the EIS submission for the Winterbourne Wind Project.

Australia has committed to reaching net zero emissions by 2050 - this commitment part of a world commitment to bring greenhouse gas emissions to net zero.

We need to address the consequences of climate change - NSW and Fed Govt have accepted this. Clear evidence over the past 6 years - bushfires and floods - tell us what the future might look like if we don't mitigate against climate change.

Under the EPA 1979 the Govt is required to comply and consider climate change. Under the act all big impacts have to be considered - for and against. Should not the SEAR have included climate change as the key issue - and surely the assessors must consider climate change.

This project conforms with NSW climate change objectives and AEMO plans.

AEMO has recommended and planned for the setting up of Renewable Energy Zones. The NSW Govt., being fully aware of the general environment of New England and fully aware of the nature of large wind farm developments, has decisively and formally declared the New England as an REZ. In making such a declaration the Govt is saying that it welcomes large scale wind farms - to think of then impeding such a wind farm of this type is a contradiction of the government's own decision - and will damage investor confidence in the Govt and in particular in its REZ plans.

You must therefore approve this project - it is not so different from other wind farm projects - it is part of the government climate change mitigation plan for projects such as these to proceed.

You should approve this project - and you must strongly consider climate change as part of your evaluation.

The Proposed project is the gateway for many other projects that are similar which will turn the region into an industrial area. The region is renowned for its agricultural farmland and the industry that supports it. As well as this, a significant portion of the local economy is off the back of tourism. Both of these industries have significant beneficial local economic and social impacts. This proposed project will see the majority of the labour and the profit from the project going elsewhere. As well at this it will actually negatively impact the agriculture and tourism industry in the region. The long term economic and social damage to the local region will be significant and has been totally disregarded by the organisers of the current project.

I am writing to register objection to the wind tower/solar project being proposed for Winterbourne
The two main industries in Walcha are Tourism and Agriculture both of which would be negatively impacted by the project. Walcha is one of the most reliable grazing areas in NSW and even Australia due to our climate, topography, location and community.
Physically wind towers and solar farms encumber the land with massive infrastructure that has a limited life and at this point is not recyclable. In fact in the US, solar panels have to be treated the same as nuclear waste. Solar farms are known to decrease the temperature of the immediate area by up to 5 decrease and divert storms away. Many components contain toxic substances (eg solar panels and batteries) and potentially risk environmental contamination if they are damaged or degrade. Decommissioning of infrastructure may become the responsibility of individual landholders in the potential absence of the original International Project Developers/Owners especially if the “Renewable Energy Farms” are sold on to third party who waive any previous agreements.
The case study on these projects has been done. In California there are entire hillsides that are completely covered in these towers (most of which are not generating Power). The reason for this is that once the old tower is ‘decommissioned’’, rather than deconstructing they have just built more new towers next to the old one rendering the land they are on completely unusable for anything else. The towns around these facilities, who all welcomed the projects at the time of conception have died.
When running an agricultural business, the value of your land asset is a large factor when determining the ongoing viability of the business. It has been found that neighbouring properties to wind & solar farms have a decrease in value instantly and while the towers are visible. Even the properties that have the towers on them will initially go up in value due to the income from the tower, however at about year 10 of the project these property values plummet below those of the neighbouring properties. Do we really want to devalue our most valuable asset?
The difference between Walcha as a community and many other similar towns is that there is a large percentage of young people who want to come home and run the family farm. You only need to look at the Walcha footy club to see how positive this is for the community. Going forward with these projects will jeopardise this. These “Renewable Energy Farms” are short sighted, and it will be the next generation that will cop all the negative impacts of the decisions being made today.

I oppose the proposed Winterbourne Wind Factory and make the following submissions:
1. The continuing destruction of the Australian countryside is unacceptable to Australian citizens who support farmers, graziers and regional Australia in their campaign against the irrational development of wind and solar industrial factories on prime agriculture land which are environmentally destructive.
Further, I understand the Wind and Solar industry factories are unregulated, not like the minining industry which has strict regulations to adhere to.
2. Cumulative Impact – ‘Winterbourne Project’ forecasts significant emerging wind and solar development either in Planning System, advanced or early stage feasibility. Estimates suggest that within a 70km radius of Walcha around 550 plus wind turbines and potentially 7-9 million solar panels. It is clearly incumbent on the Proponent to assess the relative cumulative impacts. Despite being the subject of new Government Guidelines this cumulative impact was not even contemplated within the CCC process.
3. Social Impact – How will the developer proactively and collaboratively address the social impacts that has already destroyed what was once a very community orientated area? Social Impact Assessment has to be about ALL the people, not a tick the box component of EIS. It has to be all about the people in the Walcha community and its associated communities – their current and future relationship to each other and to the community itself. Presently The Walcha community has been DESTROYED by this proposal.
4. Amenity – Noise and other emissions/pollution from the proposed Winterbourne Wind Factory and the impact on neighbouring land amenity have not been adequately addressed in the EIS. I believe the proposed Winterbourne Wind Factory will cause substantial and unacceptable interference with neighbours use and enjoyment of their own land.
5. Visual Pollution/Impact – The visual impact from the proposed Winterbourne Wind Factory will have an unacceptable negative impact on the neighbours and the town of Walcha. I believe the visual pollution of the proposed Winterbourne Wind Factory will cause substantial and unacceptable interference with neighbours use and enjoyment of their own land.
6. Noise Pollution Including Infrasound & Vibration – pose risk to human and animal health, remember this is prime agriculture land.
Have you or do you know anyone who has suffered motion sickness? Infrasound is similar in that not everyone suffers from it. One does not know if one will be a victim of infrasound and it builds up over a period of time.
The continuing whoosh whoosh whoosh of a turbine located on the same rock platform of a dwelling will cause the dwelling to vibrate and structural damage to occur (similar to mine blasting and the impact of dwellings). Think back to the tales of brick cottages some 5ks even beyond 10ks of mine blasting sites, every time a blast occurred the ground vibrated and carried to any dwelling on the same rock platform and overtime cracked internal walls and moved foundations.


7. Decrease in Land Values - I believe the visual pollution/impact combined with the noise pollution together with the cumulative impact will decrease the land values of the Walcha community with many residents having to move away and sell their homes for pittance (if they can sell) resulting in a rural slum area. Rural property owners/mangers will be forced to work properties remotely having to travel to and from the farm gate which will not only impact animal husbandry but increase expenses.
8. Cost – factor in the cost of loss of electricity travelling to the city, wouldn’t a closer location to the cities be more practicable? Why not place turbines around sporting fields and parks, they would blend in with the city high rise buildings and not stand out as they do on hill and mountain tops.
9. Transparency & Compensation – As the Host Agreements impact every neighbour landholder/resident a turbine should be a minimum distance of 10ks from a dwelling, bearing in mind the bigger/taller turbines become the more noise that is emitted.
Every neighbour landholder/resident within a 10km distance from a turbine should be entitled to ANNUAL compensation equal to the combined value of the Landowner Host Agreements, as per the Host Landlease remuneration or per turbine remuneration. It is the neighbour landholder/resident who is most impacted during construction and for the life of the development and the renewed life of the development until such time as the factory is decommissioned.
It is the neighbour landholder/resident who will be impacted the most and suffer (FOR LIFE):-
Devalue of land;
Visual Scarring/Pollution;
Flora and Fauna that has been nurtured by them;
Lifestyle gone forever

Community compensation should be abolished and replaced with substantial compensation to those who are impacted the most, that is, the immediate neighbour landholder/resident, after all they have the most to lose.
Council compensation should also be abolished. The wind industry factory company should pay for all road/bridge construction and maintenance and ongoing maintenance work and to take away, at the wind industry factory expense for the life of the project any waste, most importantly toxic waste. After all any project that splits the community and needs to pay ongoing bribes to receive support obviously lacks authenticity.
After all the neighbour/landholder/resident did not ask for this project and will be impacted for at least the next 25 years and in most cases for the rest of their natural lives!!

This compensation should be a mandatory, payable, legal and binding until such time as the last turbine of the wind industry factory has been decommissioned and the subject Host/s land rejuvenated and without limiting or restricting the neighbour landholder/resident from making any claim or claims, in particular noise nuisance claims against the Wind Industry Factory Company, Host Landowner, Council, Councillor, State Government or Minister.
10. Decommissioning – As I understand the wind turbine industry is unregulated, not like our mining industry which has stringent regulations.
a. Should the subject development be approved, to protect the neighbour landholder/resident/Host from the ongoing sales of wind industry factories and to ensure the appropriate removal of all turbines and ancillary equipment and the rejuvenation of the Host land at decommissioning a million dollar bond per turbine to be paid by the proposed wind industry factory company prior to construction with no part thereof to be released until all the turbines, including concrete bases and ancillary equipment have been removed and the Host’s land rejuvenated. Such funds to be held by State Government or Local Government in a compounding interesting bearing account.
Such bond money NOT TO BE RELEASED until every turbine, concrete pad, ancillary equipment and rejuvenation of land work has been carried out and the community consulting committee are satisfied that such works have been completed in a satisfactory manner for the neighbour landholder/resident/Host.
This amount of funds will in all probability be insufficient to cover the cost of decommissioning but at least a bond.
b. Where will the turbine blades be buried? Not only at decommissioning but during the lifespan of the proposal? Currently and it has been for sometime the only way to dispose of these extremely toxic blades.
11. Construction – where will the water come from? Where will the gravel come from? How will the single road in and out of Walcha be utilised

As a regular visitor to this beautiful part of the world, I wish to express my concerns and objection of this project.

My friends have worked tirelessly for the past 8 years since purchasing a neglected farm with the aim to not only produce quality Black Angus cattle but to also showcase the extraordinary beauty of the surrounding world heritage park.

The loss of the rural beauty, wild life and threat to livestock if this project is approved is not only heartbreaking but financially disastrous for this close knit community. I have made many trips to Walcha and each time I visit, I am reminded of the community spirit of hard working Australians who can work harmoniously in a pristine environment and contribute to providing premium agricultural products to the Australian public.

We (Warwick John & Janice Lynne Fletcher) as directors Cairnie Pastoral Co.,(ABN 73 001 760 186) fully support the Winterbourne Wind project. Cairnie Pastoral Co. is trustee for Cairnie Super Fund, and we believe that investment in Renewable Energy is not only beneficial to the bottom line of the Fund, but ethically beneficial for the environment and economy's of rural Australia for the following reasons:*Host land holders will receive an alternative income stream allowing them to diversify their business's and not have to rely entirely on the weather and fluctuating markets which it controls the level of production and the bottom line of grazing operations.
*There is an urgent requirement to transition from fossil fuel generation to renewables.
*There is an urgent need to replace aging fossil fuel plants such as Liddell and Eraring that are due to close by the end of 2025 and AEMO are working on 60% of existing coal fired power stations will be withdrawn by 2030.
Eastern Australia is going to have to get its act together if we are going to avoid blackouts in the near future.
* The NSW government have mandated we reduce our greenhouse emissions by 30% by 2030 and this project will provide a 3% GHG reduction in achieving this goal.
*The project will result in hundreds of millions of dollars spent in regional and in turn giving these
economies a huge and much needed economic boost and attracting a skilled and diverse work force to the regions.
* This project will provide $1M at the commencement of the project and $750 PA during the life of the project to a Community Benefit Fund to be administered by Walcha & Uralla Councils. This Fund will be of huge benefit to sporting clubs,service clubs,the arts and most important of all EDUCATION.

Thank you for giving us the opportunity to provide this submission . This project is a good project and we feel it should be approved as soon as possible
Warwick & Jance Fletcher

The reasons for objection to the above project are as follows-
-Construction of the Winterbourne Wind Farm is very close to the Oxley Wild Rivers National Park and the UNESCO Gondwana Rainforests. The project will have a detrimental impact on the flora and fauna. There will be an immense impact on the bird life in this gorge area where great numbers of wedgetail eagles and other raptors are often seen soring in the thermals provided by the gorge. These birds are at great risk of being struck by these wind turbines. This has not been acknowledged in the developers Environment Impact Study.
There will be detrimental impact to wildlife corridors when clearing is done to make way for approximately 113 km of roads to facilitate the construction of the wind turbines. The result will also mean loss of habitat for a number of species including koalas, endangered birds and reptiles which in turn then also threatens the ecosystem. This habitat cannot be replaced and the project is in the wrong place and is very destructive. We should be trying to preserve the health of natural ecology.

-The proposed wind turbines will also create a no fly zone in that area. Our most important aerial tools for fire control in the Oxley Wild Rivers National Park will be severely hampered. Critical wildfire control will be non existent. This is of great concern to our community.

-The massive amount of machinery that will be brought in to construct the roads before the turbines are even constructed. Then the machinery to build massive bases for turbines and the turbines themselves being brought and the carting of water and gravel will place a huge burden on our community road network. A very conservative estimate of 288 trucks per day during 11 months of peak construction is mind blowing to say the least. The high increase traffic will impact our businesses. Tourism will be affected by people opting to go elsewhere rather than being caught up with huge trucks moving sizeable loads. For a small community like Walcha who depends on tourism this will be catastrophic. Community members who travel to larger regional centres for medical, employment and business meetings will be severely impacted and inconvenienced.
There is only one road in and out of Walcha to major rural centres.

We are strongly opposed to this project as we feel the developers of this project have not got the best interests of our community at heart. The disruption to our community through the impact on already deteriorating roads, along with the impact to recreational and agricultural pilots is enormous. These are just 2 of the reasons why we are opposed to the Winterbourne Wind project. The others are detailed in the attached letter. Not in our letter is the fact that our children attend school in Tamworth with the disruption anticipated to traffic flow due to the large number of trucks bringing turbine components to Walcha, if there was to be an emergency our ability to get to our children is hindered. So, not only on a personal level but also as a community our access to emergency medical care provided in Tamworth and Armidale is hindered.

My name is Peter Young. I am a young grazier and father who has lived in Walcha my entire life. My family and I are active member of the Walcha community. I object to the Winterbourne windfarm and have significant concerns regarding the project and the erroneous EIS document. I am concerned the proposed project will have detrimental affects to my grazing operation, the community and our environment.
Firstly I am concerned for the massive impact on the districts natural resources, such as gravel and water. The EIS wrongly suggests that the project would require 220ML of water during construction. Simple calculations reveal that the true figure is more like 675ML. Where is this water going to come from? Sourcing all the water locally would have a huge drain on the local water resource. Alternatively, this water could be trucked into the district. 675ML of water equates to 56000 truck loads of water on our roads.
Our local gravel reserves are also limited. Construction of 113km of road plus hardstands is estimated to require 850 000 tonnes of road building gravel. These resources in my mind would be much better utilised by local businesses, returning profits to local businesses for many, many years to come.
The roads in the Walcha district are already in a constant state of disrepair. The issued discussed above would lead to an additional 800 truck movements per day, for 11months during construction. On top of that there would be 288 trucks per day during construction on the Oxley highway. I have several major concerns with all this additional traffic. Firstly, there will be significant challenges in maintaining the already damaged roads with the huge influx of heavy traffic, our roads simply are not designed to cope with this type of traffic. Secondly increased congestion on our roads, through both road work and additional trucks during construction will impact access to Walcha. This will impact local tourism and access to and from markets for our local businesses. Not to mention the enormous visual impact of these turbines, turning tourist away.

The Economic Analysis of this project is also concerning. With an estimated $200/MWhr pricing, this project is likely to generate $420million annually in energy sales. Lease agreements with wind farm hosts is likely to be around 3.6M total per year, and the community fund of $0.75 million per year. Clearly an offshore turbine manufacturer and developer is taking advantage of our community and the environment, with little regard to the long term impacts to both. Furthermore with no plan for decommissioning, leaving the door open for the developer to walk away, leaving enormous financial burden on individual land holders, and ultimately the community to deal with obsolete wind turbines in the future.



This project is in the wrong place it’s the wrong size and with the wrong developer.

Kind regards,
Peter Young

As a resident of New England for 36 years, I believe our local area would benefit significantly from this investment from Winterbourne Wind.
Unfortunately, this region of NSW has been very slow on the uptake of alternative energy production and subsequent decarbonisation and this would give us the opportunity to start to play catch-up.
The injection of capital such as Winterbourne is willing to invest would not only directly benefit the community of Walcha but the surrounding towns of Tamworth, Uralla and Armidale thus supporting decentralisation.
Transport links surrounding this project will require upgrading, as both the New England and Oxley Highways are in disrepair but with the economic benefits this project will bring, improved transport infrastructure will have a flow on effect to so many other businesses.
Unfortunately, prevailing conservative politics in the New England have restricted this region’s capacity to keep pace with both national and international progress in the move to renewable energy sources and therefore, the imperative of decarbonisation.

As a resident of the New England region this important project will enable a transition to a low carbon future. It will also provide important employment opportunities for the Walcha community. The project will value add to similar projects across both NSW and Australia.

I would like to address first that I am young and will be dealing with any further effects (bushfires, floods, loss of coral reefs and wildlife, etc) of climate change well beyond older generations residing in Walcha who may be opposed to the installation of a wind farm.

It is absolutely imperative that Australia gets on board with reducing the effects of climate change. Australia is so far behind in the world on making necessary changes to save the environment and health of the future generations of our country. This is now urgent to repair the damage done by coal and fossil fuels.

Renewable energy is the only way forward. The Winterbourne Wind Farm project will not only produce enough energy to supply over 375,000 homes (how impressive is that?!) but most importantly contribute to the NSW government goal of 50% reduction in greenhouse gas by 2030. I understand as of January 2023 we are nowhere near that goal.

I fail to understand why anyone would be opposed to this project. Didn’t the NSW government identify the New England region as the area to build wind farms because it’s very windy there? The state government needs to stay true to their word. It is a very NIMBY (“not in my backyard”) attitude for the community members opposing the wind farm project when the state government has already said developments like the Winterbourne Wind Farm need to happen. The government needs to stay true to their promise not just to the people of Australia but to the rest of the world. Canada and Europe are doing their parts!!

People need to get on board with this. There will be lots of jobs created, boosting the local economy of Walcha.

This project will be one step forward to reduce climate change. It is so obviously important that Australia needs to make urgent changes now. Think of the environment and the children.

This proposition involves oversize turbine towers which reach excessive heights, far beyond the original concepts which have been discussed for quite a number of years.
Since then the original farmers have employed "experts" to negotiate contracts and financial arrangements with various companies to install and operate the much larger towers than the district had expected. The contracts have various conditions which have been kept confidential under threat of legal action if exposed. There have also been a number of changes of the company responsible who have not been upfront with the neighbours, the community or the New England region.
My objection is that the new larger towers will be clearly visible from our residences and our farm. They will interfere with the landscape of which we are so proud and are proven to be detrimental to land values both in land valuation and sale appeal.
The various proponents have claimed that they have run "consultation" events but from the early days however it is obvious now that near neighbours were not consulted and the so called "contracts" prevented the "host" farmers from even discussing issues with their neighbours at all. To make matters worse some farmers have become involved with individual small businesses and individuals who have specialised in promoted projects for their own material benefit. There have been many complaints against these people who do not consult the neighbours or the public in acceptable fashion.
The excessive pressure to create replacement energy since the demise and proposed demise of coal fired base load power stations by companies managed by irresponsible wealthy individuals or political influencers who have vested interests in closing them is not in the interest of regional areas such as New England.
There are far more suitable locations well away from highly valuable agricultural land and precious environmental areas. Research is proving that much further west in NSW there are regions with space for huge areas of solar panels as well as consistent wind particularly with these newer bigger towers . A feature of those areas is that access for huge towers and blades along flatter country roads will be mean much less damage to the local environment than cutting through tableland environment causing erosion and damage to dwindling vegetation which most farmers in New England are attempting to renew.
In short the planning has not considered and thoroughly open enough in its vision. This has been made clear at a number of seminars where it has become obvious by the inability of the presenters from your Department or EnergyCo to think outside the REZ process which was never fully explained to the communities right from the start.
Now that we know just how much disruption is proposed and the insistence on causing it we as farmers and the communities in general have decided enough is enough.
Unlike planners we are well aware of the mess we will be left with when newer technology causes these projects to be abandoned just as has and is happening in the USA, Canada and Europe.
Lastly the planning process has forgotten; "Who will clean it up?" where are the decommissioning funds.
Please reject this project completely.

I believe this project will have major repercussions on the environment and I do not consider this to be a clean source of energy. Construction, operation and decommissioning will have major impacts on the environment and will impact on endangered wildlife. I have grave concerns for aerial firefighting. There is also issues for farmers with aerial weed and pasture management. There will be minimal work for the local community and will only put pressure on the rental market as workers from outside the area are hired for the works

I oppose the proposed Winterbourne Wind Farm development.
Roads from Scone to the development site at Winterbourne are not of a standard to support current traffic levels. Potholes and other road erosion are already adding time and money to the cost of transportation. The Winterbourne Wind Farm EIS does not reflect the current poor state of the roads they will need to use for their transport needs and the planning listed in the EIS while catering to the proponent’s needs does not cater for the needs of the many other transport companies that need to use this route. Road maintenance, upgrades and traffic delays caused by the movement of large components will delay transportation of all other goods to and from all businesses along the proposed route increasing costs and reducing profits for all our businesses. We rely on the transport industry to freight our cattle to Scone and Singleton from Walcha and no consideration or mitigation practices for animal welfare for animals being freighted is given in the EIS. I oppose the Winterbourne Wind Farm development EIS on the grounds that their planning for transportation is inadequate and does not reflect the disruption and cost to current transport needs.

The lack of planning with regards to decommissioning gives me no faith in the proponent and leaves me with the fear that Walcha will be left with the cost, both financial and environmental, to clean up the towers at the end of their production span. There are alternatives to power production that are better for our environment that don’t involve the construction of these industrial sized developments and massive transmission lines on agricultural land.

The proponent has not been upfront with the Walcha community through the planning phase. Communication was limited to marketing strategies highlighting their positives. When posed with questions on the negatives and invited to attend community gatherings the proponent failed to respond. Consultation with the broader Walcha community with regards to the extensive need for resources and the amount of disruption to our traffic flow has really only been made via the EIS, these really should have been communicated much sooner.

I oppose the proponent’s greed for local resources and fear that their need of aggregate for roads and foundation work will leave our community with no gravel resources into the future. Their extensive need for water from our LGA is also of concern.

As a farmer in the Walcha LGA I also oppose the Winterbourne Wind Farm development on the grounds that their mitigation practice for bio-security breach is inadequate. With the transportation of so many resources and so many people into prime agricultural land, the threat to food production and to animal welfare from the introduction of weeds, pests and disease is extensive and should not be overlooked. Industrial wind farms should not be built on agricultural land.
Darren Mackaway

Submission attached as per above instructions

The NSW goal of 50% reduction in greenhouse emissions by 2030 is not going to happen if we allow the NIMBYs (Not In My Backyard) to stop progress on projects such as The Winterbourne Wind.
I am a farmer and I am quite happy to have the poles and wires transverse my property for the sake of progress of The Winterbourne Wind Project.
From the time I was approached about this project till now (January 2023) it has taken 6 years. After all the environmental and cultural studies as well as many information meetings I am still waiting for a start date.
If all the state projects keep taking this long we will not reach the 2030 target. As they close down coal fired power stations we may all need to invest in our own home power generators at this rate.
We all must support The Winterbourne Wind Project so we can make a start NOW!!!!!

To whom it may concern,

My name is Dougal Fletcher, and I am writing to communicate my support for the Winterbourne
Wind Farm (proposal ID SSD-10471).

I am a sixth generation Fletcher, my parents are farmers, host land holders for the project and business owners in Walcha. This project will make sure we have a successful succession plan when I’m older so one day I will be able to continue my family's legacy. The steps my town takes today with renewable energy sources will benefit my generation and the next. This development will ensure my town will continue to grow and have the appropriate services so we can continue to live on the farm and not be at a disadvantage for living rurally.

Regards

Dougal Fletcher