UK: Wind farm threatens site of Roman villa

Plans to build a windfarm on the site of an ancient Roman villa have sparked a furious row, pitching archaeologists against supporters of wind power.

The remains of the villa lie beneath fields outside the village of Tivetshall St Mary, one of the many Roman settlements which once dotted the landscape of what is now the modern county of Norfolk.
Coins and brooches have been discovered near the site and a mosaic and an underfloor heating system lie a few feet beneath the surface.

But according to opponents, the proposals by a German owned firm to erect six 125m high wind turbines on the site threaten to destroy what’s left of the villa and the ancient Saxon drovers’ track which runs nearby.

Donald Carmichael, of the Tivetshall Action Group, said: “We are extremely angry they are planning to do this on what is a very historic site and a much valued village amenity.”

The dispute is the latest in a number which have arisen across the country as a result of energy firms seeking to take advantage – frequently in the face of local opposition – of the Government’s support for wind power and the system of taxpayers’ subsidies from which it benefits.

Telegraph