Six years ago Mirella Schutgens and her husband bought a monumental farmhouse with panoramic views on the outskirts of Rosmalen. They thought they had found their dream home, but now the municipalities of Den Bosch and Oss want to build a wind farm with 47 turbines in the pasture behind their house.
“The entire skyline will become one wind turbine park,” says Schutgens Broadcasting Brabant. “We asked the municipality six years ago if there were plans for wind turbines. The answer was that they did not want to touch the historic landscape.”
The plan for the wind farm has yet to be approved by the municipal councils, which is why worried local residents demonstrated at the town hall in Den Bosch tonight. They try to convince councilors to vote against the plan with banners, signs and cardboard windmills.
Afraid of health
“We fear for our health”, says one of the activists, Sandra Jansen. “The noise those mills make is harmful to us.”
Landscape pollution also plays a role. The windmills will be at least 250 meters high. “Den Bosch will soon no longer be known for the St. John’s Cathedral, but for its large windmill park,” says co-campaigner Schutgens.
According to Jansen, wind turbines in other countries give at least ten times the height of buildings. “So if they reach a height of 250 meters, they have to be 2.5 kilometers from our houses. But in Den Bosch it will only be one kilometer.”
Legal action
The activists fear that city councils will vote in favor of the plan on October 6. “But then we will take legal action,” says Schutgens.
“We have already hired a lawyer”, says Jansen. “But actually all these kinds of lawsuits die. It makes me despondent.”
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