Isra-Mart srl: Couple seek £2.5m damages over noisy wind turbines

Wind farm wars escalated this week when a couple who claim they were driven from their family farm by the hum of turbines mounted a unprecedented £2.5m compensation bid in London's High Court.

Jane and Julian Davis moved out of Grays Farm, Deeping St Nicholas, near Spalding, Lincolnshire, four years ago blaming the strain of living with the noise from the wind turbines.

Now they are taking on the local wind farm and other defendants in a ground-breaking test case, which will test the law on whether the sound created by the turbines amounts to a noise nuisance.

The couple are suing local landowners RC Tinsley and Nicholas Watts, on whose land some of the turbines have been sited, as well as Fenland Windfarms and Fenland Green Power Cooperative, which own and operate the 2MW REpower turbines.

Mrs Davis, whose husband's family cultivated Grays Farm for more than 20 years before they moved out, said it had been a "nightmare" living there, and the family had no option but to leave.

She told the Strand News Service on Monday that the humming sound created by the turbines was very unpredictable and mainly occurred at night. "You can never get to bed with the assurance that you will stay asleep," she said.

Their lawyers are seeking either a permanent injunction to shut down the turbines or damages of up to £2.5m to compensate the couple for the disruptive effect on their lives.

The case, which is expected to last three weeks, started on Monday but was adjourned until today so the judge and lawyers in the case could carry out a site visit.

Trade association RenewableUK says on its website that there are two potential sources of noise from a turbine: the blades passing through the air as the hub rotates, and the gearbox and generator in the nacelle.

The court heard on Monday that the technical debate will focus on three differing types of noise by the turbines: normal wind farm noise; low-frequency/tonal noise similar to a hum; and particularly disturbing variations in noise.

The couple's QC, Peter Harrison, said the case was not a test of the government's renewable energy policies, but was simply the result of the Davis family's wish to "get on with their lives and get back into their house".

"Their lives have been wholly disrupted by that noise," he told the court, also alleging the main operator had tried to "impose a code of silence on those examining or recording the noise that the turbines in this location have caused".

But William Norris, QC for the owners, operators and landlords of the wind farm, rejected claims that the machines created an unacceptable noise nuisance, suggesting the couple may have become "unduly sensitised to sounds that would not adversely affect the ordinary person".

He accepted that their "amenity" had been affected, but said the couple had "a gross over-reaction to what they undoubtedly do hear".

He said the defendants were willing to conduct "remedial strategies" to reduce the impact created by the noise, but alleged Mr and Mrs Davis has refused to co-operate.

A spokesman for RenewableUK refused to comment on the case, telling BusinessGreen it was best to let the proceedings play out first.

"We need to let the proceedings take their course," he said. "There has been so much said about this over the past few years, it's really now at the stage where it's best to look at the evidence."