The mayor of Schlangen, Marcus Püster, had invited representatives of the local council groups to the briefing. In addition, qualified engineer Michael Ahn, who is responsible for planning the community of Schlangen for the use of wind energy, took part.
Stephan Prinz zur Lippe, who runs a law firm in Detmold as a lawyer and tax advisor – and has been the head of the Lippe house since the death of his father Armin in 2005 – then rated the discussion as “open and constructive”. Of course, critical questions were also discussed, but he hoped to have answered them adequately and satisfactorily. Species protection was discussed as an important topic. “There is a completed report on species protection that does not raise any concerns,” said Stephan Prinz zur Lippe. Landscape protection is also not endangered. “No valuable deciduous forest is affected by the plans.”
The 61-year-old also wants to have four wind turbines installed in Detmolder and Horn-Bad Meinberger. All wind turbines are then to be leased to the Westfalenwind company. He plans to submit the relevant applications this year. The approval authority is the Lippe district.
What do the citizens and the Schlangen community have from the planned wind farm? “Of course that has to be decided by the Westfalenwind company, but there are definitely different models,” says Stephan Prinz zur Lippe. But he also sees an advantage for the municipality’s wind power planning: “It has to designate ten percent of its area as priority areas in order to give the wind energy sufficient substantial space.” With the six planned at the Gauseköte, it would therefore have to designate fewer other locations.
Mayor Marcus Püster sees it that way too. “I had a positive impression of the conversation and the plans.” In addition, the municipality can expect further trade tax income. The money could, for example, flow into a foundation or possibly to the citizens’ energy cooperative.
The Schlänger Mayor assumes that Stephan Prinz zur Lippe will submit the applications for the wind farm this year. And in the foreseeable future, the wind farm will certainly also be discussed in detail in local politics.
