'Photo tricks used to make wind turbines appear smaller'

WIND farm developers have been accused of making turbines look smaller than they actually are when applying for planning permission in order to "trick" councils into giving them the go-ahead.

WIND farm developers have been accused of making turbines look smaller than they actually are when applying for planning permission in order to "trick" councils into giving them the go-ahead.

Alan MacDonald, a leading architect based in Inverness, said the computer-generated images of turbines in applications are often little more than "artifice".

Small changes in the size of the photograph, the angle at which it is taken, the zoom on the camera and how it is presented can all make turbines look smaller, he said.

His concerns have been accepted by Scottish Natural Heritage (SNH), which issues planning guidance on "wind farm visualisation" across Britain.

Brendan Turvey, the policy and advice manager for renewables at SNH, said developers have "definitely" made turbines look smaller than they are.

He said one of the biggest problems concerned pictures of the landscape being taken at a distance and then shrunk to fit into a report so that the turbines also appear to be smaller.

SNH is currently consulting on new guidance that will ask wind farm developers to use a 3in (75mm) focal length and present the photograph on a much larger piece of paper. Mr MacDonald said developers commonly use a wide-angle lens and zoom out because this gives a wider context of the landscape. However, the wider the angle and the further away the zoom, the smaller the objects in the picture will look.

In the most extreme cases a turbine can be made to look four times smaller than reality, according to Mr MacDonald.

Analysis shows that a much more accurate picture of what people who live by wind turbines will see is given using the 3in (75mm) focal length.

For example, a single frame photograph, with an angle of 27º, using a 75mm zoom, once printed on paper will show what the turbines will look like in reality [see right].

Mr MacDonald, a member of the Royal Institute of British Architects, said developers are misleading people by presenting photographs that do not accurately represent what the wind farm will look like.

"Local people are being misled about the potential visual impact of such large structures," he said.

At present there are just over 3,000 wind turbines onshore and more than 500 offshore in Britain, but the number on land could more than double, while turbines offshore will increase tenfold in the next decade.

Renewable UK, which represents the wind industry, said developers are working closely with SNH and other bodies to ensure that wind farm visualisation is correct.

As well as the 3,358 onshore turbines already built around Britain, there are more than 3,000 that have gained consent and more than 2,000 are the subject of planning applications. Many are being held up in planning due to protests lodged by residents who believe the turbines will ruin the landscape. The National Trust is currently fighting at least half a dozen applications.

The University of Stirling also found that photographs submitted as part of the planning process can be misleading. A report compiled by the university said that the industry standard of using a 2in (50mm) lens does not represent the landscape accurately enough in a printed picture.

From The Telegraph

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