Calderdale Energy Park defies council guidance with rushed public consultation on Walshaw Moor wind farm
Community consultation on new version of contentious wind farm timed for local election purdah period.
Calderdale Energy Park developers have defied Calderdale and Bradford Council advice to delay their statutory consultation on the proposed “Critical National Priority” wind farm on the moors above Hebden Bridge and Haworth, until after the 7th May all-out Council elections.
The wind farm developer’s decision will put the efficacy and transparency of the consultation process at risk, according to strongly-worded advice from Calderdale Council.
On 19th February, Calderdale Council advised Calderdale Energy Park that the timing of the consultation should avoid the sensitive Pre-Election Period, so as to “ensure that newly elected Councillors and new council administrations are properly consulted.” Bradford Council made the same request.
Calderdale Energy Park appears to have brushed the Councils’ views aside. According to a reliable source, the statutory consultation on a new version of the proposed wind farm is to start on 8th April and run until 10th June.
A campaigner with Peatland Alliance, which opposes wind farms on protected peatland in England, said;
“It could be a case of more haste, less speed. If they mess up the statutory consultation, Calderdale Council has the right to make representations to the Examining Authority (the Planning Inspectorate) as the process continues. The Planning Inspectorate can refuse to accept the application for examination.
This isn’t a good look for Calderdale Energy Park. They’re required to allow local people to influence the proposed development. The statutory consultation is key to this. But they don’t seem to care.”
The Peatland Alliance campaigner added,
“They’ve had to revise the proposed wind farm development to meet the Planning Inspectorate’s requirements last October in the Scoping Response. This put back their schedule by months. Now Calderdale Energy Park seem to be in a mad rush to get to a “shovel ready” stage. We think they need this in order to get approval for the Northern Powergrid connection at Bradford West substation that they’ve applied for.
If they don’t get this approval, they’ve said they’ll have to revise the proposed development yet again, because the current version depends on that grid connection.
Why don’t they just accept now that Walshaw Moor’s highly-protected blanket bog is not an appropriate place for a wind farm and give up? Before wasting any more of everyone’s time and energy. There are plenty of suitable non-peatland locations for their wind farm. And they’re going to have to tell the Secretary of State why they’ve not chosen one of them“
In a meagre concession to the Councils, the developer has extended the consultation period from the planned six6 weeks to eight and half weeks. This is far short of the extension to 12 weeks that both Calderdale and Bradford Councils and the Town and Parish Councils had advised is the minimum period for the statutory consultation.
Calderdale Council has pointed out that the proposed development is different to what was consulted on during the non-statutory consultation (April-June 2025) and through the formal Scoping exercise in September 2025.
The revised development that is to be consulted on has:
- Reduced the number of turbines from 41 to “up to” 34, and the windfarm capacity from 300MW to 240MW
- Removed the Battery Energy Storage System (BESS)
- Confirmed the proposed access routes and the Bradford West grid connection cable corridor (subject to approved grid connection there).
The changes are the result of requirements from the Planning Inspectorate, and they have put the applicant’s schedule back by months.
Calderdale Council has told Calderdale Energy Park of its concerns regarding the very limited meaningful engagement between the Council and the developer about the changes – despite Calderdale Energy Park’s “materially misleading” claims to the contrary.
Calderdale Council was only informed of the changes in December 2025, and the Town and Parish Councils were only told at the start of February.
Major changes to the development mean previous consultation is no longer sufficient, Calderdale Council has told Calderdale Energy Park.
As a result, 12 weeks is a minimum period for the volunteers that town and parish councils and community groups largely rely on to review the volume of technical material and the changes to the development since the non-statutory consultation and the Scoping review.
One of these volunteers, Penny Bennett, said,
“Now that Calderdale Energy Park has refused to extend the statutory consultation to 12 weeks, we are going to have a fraught few weeks struggling to make sense of all this new information. And if the non-statutory consultation and Scoping Report are anything to go by, it will be made even harder by prolific errors and omissions. We are really fed up with Calderdale Energy Park for refusing to take the Councils’ well-founded advice, which we supported.“
Both Calderdale Council and Town and Parish Councils have raised concerns with Calderdale Energy Park about incomplete Preliminary Environmental Information for the statutory consultation.
When Parish Councils questioned the developer in early February, it became apparent that additional environmental baseline survey work undertaken since October 2025 had not resolved issues that were raised in the Planning Inspectorate’s Scoping Opinion dated 10 October 2025 and in Natural England’s hydrology annex provided after the Scoping Opinion was published.
It is therefore unclear whether the statutory consultation will provide the level of information needed for consultees to reach an informed view of the proposed scheme. Calderdale Council has told the developer it expects that the statutory consultation will be based on complete information that comprehensively addresses the matters raised in the Scoping Opinion. They also consider that Calderdale Energy Park should publish all environmental baseline surveys before consultation begins.
ENDS
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