The wind turbines around Meeden continue to flash during the day. The Council of State decided this on Wednesday. Local residents went to court in October 2023 to have the lights turned off.
There are 35 windmills around Meeden. During the day, a bright white lamp flashes on each mill. At night this changes to a continuously burning red light. This lighting makes the wind turbines clearly visible to pilots.
Lighting and a humming sound
But residents are bothered by the flashing lights. “The lights cause annoyance every day, especially when I walk the dog,” said Hilke Janssen from Wildervank in October during the hearing of the Council of State (RVS).
There is something else going on. The village never wanted the windmills. In addition, the wind turbines make a constant humming sound. Local residents are awakened by this. If the RVS had ruled that the lights should be turned off, the park might have been shut down.
Nine words
The RVS ruled on Wednesday about a so-called ‘integration plan’ for the wind farm. In such a plan, the government determines whether wind turbines are allowed and what requirements such a park must meet. The original version of this plan from 2017 (of 147 pages) contains nine words: ‘whereby the lighting must be solid’.
These words were extremely important during the trial. Aviation regulations prescribe that lighting must not be permanently lit, but flashing. That is why the Ministry of Economic Affairs changed this plan in 2022.
“But that’s not possible,” said local residents, and they went to court in October 2023. “If we allow this, they can also say: we will make them another hundred meters higher,” said Barteld Bosma from Meeden at the time. The RVS does not agree with this. A different type of lighting does not mean that the plans have to be reassessed.
Disappointed
“I will of course accept the ruling of the highest court,” says Barteld Bosma. Yet he is extremely disappointed. According to him, the decision should definitely have been reassessed.
“On the other hand, the statement is not very surprising,” says Bosma. “The Council of State very rarely reprimands the central government. Just look at the benefits affair.”
Research platform Follow the Money published on Tuesday an article in which lawyers said that the RVS should absolutely have blown the whistle on the government when it started reclaiming child benefits en masse.
Lawyer Dennis Jansen calls the RVS’s ruling weak. According to him, the Ministry of Economic Affairs could and should have used the lighting to look at the entire park. Instead, the ministry sided with the wind farm operators. “That is a missed opportunity.”