THE company keeping their fingers crossed on a massive wind farm in the Fens claim they have the support of 77 per cent of the local population. Grange Wind Farm will have their application to build seven turbines on farmland between Long Sutton and Tydd

THE company keeping their fingers crossed on a massive wind farm in the Fens claim they have the support of 77 per cent of the local population.

Grange Wind Farm will have their application to build seven turbines on farmland between Long Sutton and Tydd St Mary considered next week.

On the eve of the planning committee that will debate the application, they have released details of a survey they commissioned from PopulusI, an independent opinion research agency.

"A poll undertaken by the independent opinion research agency Populus1 has revealed that 77% of people surveyed locally support the idea of a wind farm in their local area," said Helen Hall, project manager for the proposed wind farm.

"1,000 people were interviewed, from the wards of Long Sutton, Sutton Bridge, Gedney, The Saints, Roman Bank and Walpole"

South Holland District Council Planning Committee meets next Wednesday to make a decision on the Grange, proposed by wind farm developerRES2.

The wind farm has the potential to generate enough electricity to power the equivalent of 8,000 homes each year and will provide an annual community fund of more than �28,000 each year.

Ms Hall said: "We have had a great deal of support for this wind farm since we first announced it back in February and we commissioned the poll to provide independent verification of just how high the level of support is.

"In common with any new significant proposal, there have been a small number of people making statements against the project.

"This survey should reassure the council that the majority of local people are in favour of a wind farm".

She said the survey showed that 97% of people felt that increasing the UK's ability to be self sufficient in energy was an important benefit of obtaining energy from renewable sources and 94% of people felt that reducing harmful emissions of carbon dioxide was also an important benefit.

Ms Hall added: "We are absolutely committed to finding cleaner ways of producing our energy. We hope that South Holland District Council will be able to use the results of the poll to confidently say yes to this wind farm, which will be a real asset to the area and help to reduce the UK's dependence on imported fossil fuels."

South Holland District Council's planning committee is meeting on Wednesday 6th January to make a

•Populus interviewed 1000 adults, by telephone, across the wards of Long

Sutton, Sutton Bridge, Gedney, The Saints, Roman Bank and Walpole between 14th and 18thOctober 2009.

• RES is a leading UK renewable energy company and is part of the Sir Robert McAlpine group of construction and engineering companies. RES built its first wind farm in Cornwall in 1992 and has developed and/or owns three projects in Wales.

• To email your comments click here