Plans for a wind farm overlooking the Australian War Memorial in Somme, France shelved
PLANS for a wind farm in pastures overlooking the Australian National Memorial in the Somme in France have been dumped.
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A WIND farm planned for pastures overlooking the Australian National Memorial in the Somme in France has been shelved.
Prefecture officials decided the proposal would unduly impact on the memorial to Australian World War I soldiers outside the village of Villers-Brettoneux, near the Belgium border in northern France.
The area was the scene of some of the bloodiest battles in World War I and the names of 10,000 Australian soldiers who were lost are engraved on a memorial wall outside the village.
It is also the location of the under-construction Sir John Monash museum commemorating Australians who lost their lives in WWI.
The Moulin Blanc proposal would have seen eight wind turbines and three transmission stations built several kilometres from the memorial, which is visited by tens of thousands of Australians every year and will be the focus of Anzac Day commemorations next week.
The company behind the project, Ecotera, argued that the development was not on the battlefields, and was a sound proposal.
But prefecture officials ruled that it could be seen from the memorial, and on April 7 voted to reject the proposal.
Residents had been leading the campaign against it, arguing that it was too close to local houses, and negatively impacted on the environment and the memorial.
The Mayor of Villers-Brettoneux, Patrick Simon, told local media the decision was a “relief for tourism and the future.’’
“The Australians represent 80,000 visitors every year,” he told Le Courrier-Picard.
The memorial is heritage-listed as a historic site.
Officials from five prefectures in the area had been debating the proposal since February 2015.
Ecotera has a two-month window in which to appeal the decision and is considering lodging paperwork with an appeals court in coming days.
Company president Antoine Brebion told Le Courrier-Picard he was not surprised by the decision but that it was an emotional one, not a factual one.
The president of the protest group against the wind farm, Ludovic Kusnierak said: “It’s a wise decision. A good decision also (for) our Australian friends.”
Australian Veterans Affairs Minister Dan Tehan said the people of France had never forgotten the service and sacrifice of the Australian soldiers who fought there 100 years ago.
“This decision demonstrates again the incredible sensitivity the French have always shown to acknowledge what the allies gave when they fought on their behalf,’’ he said.
Originally published as Plans for a wind farm overlooking the Australian War Memorial in Somme, France shelved
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