PLANS to install an 80-metre-high meteorological monitoring mast in St Eval have been submitted to Cornwall Council.

Cleanearth Energy is seeking permission to erect the structure, which includes guy wires and associated anemometry measuring equipment, for a period of two years as part of plans approved for a wind turbine repowering site at Bears Down Wind Farm.

The site in purple and the barrows in red
The site in purple and the barrows in red (The site in purple and the barrows in red)

The land surrounding the mast will remain agricultural.

Heritage consultancy Southwest Archaeology, has carried out a heritage impact assessment after Cornwall Council requested the mast’s potential impact on the setting of a nearby scheduled barrow group.

Previous plans to install a 100-metre-high meteorological monitoring mast were withdrawn for “technical reasons.”

The report stated: “The equipment on the mast would provide accurate measurements of wind speed, the data being required for the repowering of the wind farm. The location of the proposed mast has been moved slightly (c.50m) for technical reasons.

“The proposals are for the erection of an 80-metre meteorological mast to measure wind speed on the site of an existing wind farm, as part of the planning submission for a repowered wind farm. The proposed meteorological mast would be located on the shallow north-facing slopes of Bear’s Down

“In order to process the planning submission, Cornwall Council has requested the impact on the setting of scheduled barrow group be considered.

“This assessment has determined the direct impacts associated with the erection of the proposed meteorological mast are likely to be minimal.

“There would be an adverse effect on the setting of the scheduled barrow group offset by the temporary nature of the installation and the kinetic and distracting character of the operational wind farm. Nonetheless, there is likely to be a minor adverse cumulative effect.

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“The slight change to the location of the proposed mast makes no different to this assessment.”