To some they are an environmental saviour that will help combat global warming; but to the neighbours of the Bald Hills wind-farm in Gippsland, Victoria, they are a health menace that has devastated their lives.
But unlike other rural groups who have complained about the supposed effects of the intrusive wind-farms in pristine country locations, the Bald Hills residents are doing something about it!
Their allegations have been lodged in the Victoria Supreme Court against the 106-megawatt Bald Hills Wind Farm as part of Australia’s first-ever group legal action against the noise and health impact from wind turbines.
The group of 12 residents are seeking orders from the court to have the development curtailed or shut-down and for its owners to pay them compensation. Bald Hills Wind Farm is expected to lodge its defence next month with a directions hearing due in April and a trial date likely later this year.
Residents from four properties taking action against the wind farm claim that it has caused them: “great discomfort, distress, inconvenience, disturbance and upset including headaches, earaches, neck-aches, tinnitus, unpleasant pulsing sensations, disturbed sleep, stress and annoyance, and have rendered the affected properties unhealthy and uncomfortable to live and work in”.
They also claim the value of their properties has been affected by the wind farm. The noise from the wind farm, they say: “caused a substantial and unreasonable interference with the use and enjoyment of the affected properties.”
The Bald Hills project includes 52 turbines and produces 380,000MW/h of electricity a year and was developed by Mitsui & Co and sold to Australian Renewables Income Fund in 2017.
The statement of claim says Bald Hills Wind Farm has breached, and is continuing to breach, its duty of care to each of the plaintiffs. It also says it has been made aware of the impact the wind farm has been having on its neighbours since at least September 2018.
South Gippsland Shire Council engaged an expert to assess the noise from the wind farm.
Last March, planning expert Paul Connor QC told the council there was sufficient evidence of a nuisance from the farm. The council told the company last March that the wind farm was affecting the nearby families.
In response, the company applied to amend the permit and the rules applying to noise at night. The claimants are seeking declarations that Bald Hills Wind Farm has failed to comply with its permit. They want an injunction to restrain the wind farm from continuing the nuisance, or else provide equitable compensation.
The claim also calls for an injunction requiring the company to comply with the permit. And the residents are seeking damages, aggravated and exemplary damages, interest and costs.
