Welcome to Say No To Scout Moor 2, a campaign run by the Friends of the Moorland.
We have serious concerns about the Cubico proposal for the development of 17 wind turbines with a maximum blade tip height of 180m on our beautiful moorland landscape. The planning application is now live at Rossendale with reference number 2025/0267 and at Rochdale with the reference 25/00680/FUL.
Two major wind farm developments were rejected for 115m and 125m turbines due to their impact on heritage assets, such as the world famous Rooley Moor (Cotton Famine) Road and the Prickshaw Conservation Area. They would also have severely impacted the environment, views, amenity and enjoyment of the area. As such, it is difficult to see how planners would accept a much larger proposal. However, mindful of changes in national planning policy, we must be vigilant and fight this aggressive application.
Shocking Before-After Visualisations Released
We have collated some of the key visualisations from the planning documents submitted by Cubico. We knew it was going to be bad, but not this bad. Click on the image above to explore the Before and After comparisons.
3D Visualisation – see what it will look like from anywhere
Our interactive 3D visualisation of Scout Moor shows the existing turbines and the positions proposed for the new ones. The visualisation also includes the ability to fly-through the area, along the route of Rooley Moor Road, from Catley Lane up to Waugh’s Well.
Understanding the scale
Call to Action – Write to Your MP
We are asking all our supporters to write to their MP now (and keep writing to them) asking them to withdraw their support for this application and instead work with us to prevent the destruction of our moorland and heritage. Please use our ready-made template letter but, where possible, personalise to make it your own.
Other ways to help us
We have written a brief guide to WHAT YOU CAN DO TO HELP US which includes a variety of actions that you can take now.