Beach cable campaigners raise £10k for challenge

Campaigners fighting plans to bring an electricity cable from a floating wind farm onshore at a beach in Devon say they have crowdfunded £10,000 to pay for a legal challenge.

Developers White Cross are planning to build the wind farm about 30 miles (52km) off the north Devon coast and bring the electricity cable onshore at Saunton Sands.

Campaigners are now instructing a legal team to prepare opposition to the plans, which are due to be decided on by North Devon Council at a meeting in May.

White Cross said they had adapted the plans to minimise environmental and social impacts and the project would provide 135,000 homes with renewable energy.

The developer has applied to put seven floating turbines off the Devon coast.

The windfarm electricity cables would run underground from the beach at Saunton Sands then under the golf course before turning south, going under the Taw Estuary and connecting to the grid at East Yelland.

Opponents say the work would bring heavy traffic onto country roads, damage tourism by closing off parts of the car park at Saunton and harm important wildlife habitats in the North Devon Coast National Landscape.

White Cross said the work would mean closing off about 250 parking spaces and would be carried out from September to April.

The planning application to bring the cable onshore at Saunton is due to be discussed by North Devon Council's planning committee on 7 May.

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