Blackpool comes to Bournemouth.

Blackpool is a tourist town with an existing windfarm.  It could be used as a model for the impact of a wind farm on tourism in Bournemouth's region. Although the appeal of Blackpool has largely been created through built, mechanical amusements, it is interesting to see how the scale and location of Blackpool's wind farms compare with the Navitus Bay proposal.  The map below shows where Blackpool's wind farms (Barrow, Walney 1 & Walney 2) would be if Blackpool north pier were moved to the position and orientation of Bournemouth pier.  As it happens, Blackpool's wind farms would be hidden almost entirely by Purbeck, but more important are the distances and angular extents of the wind farms compared with the Navitus Bay proposal.

The details of the Blackpool wind farms are as follows.

• Barrow:  30 turbines 120m tall.
• Walney 1: 51 turbines 137m tall.
• Walney 2: 51 turbines 150m tall.

Compare this with a plausible Navitus Bay configuration of 218 turbines 177m tall.

Here, the Navitus Bay area is shown on the map for comparison, and also in outline the West of Duddon Sands extension to the Walney wind farms which has not been built yet.  Even with this extension, the angular extent of the Blackpool wind farms will be considerably less than that of the Navitus Bay area, and they are further away.  The horizon is also more open at Blackpool, so a smaller percentage of it is occupied by the wind farm.  The Navitus Bay development area is directly offshore from Bournemouth and fills nearly 34% of the clear horizon. The turbines would also often be back-lit, increasing their visibility.