Noise Survey gives the Green Light

A noise assessment of the North Walsham site, by Acoustic Associates of Peterborough, has revealed that a pair of Enercon E82 wind turbines would produce noise levels below statutory limits - day or night. The assessment is based on actual sound recordings at key locations near the site and combined with noise data of the proposed wind turbines. Based on the predictions carried out and documented within the report, it is shown that "under a ‘worse-case’ scenario (i.e. downwind propagation and hard ground), the noise levels from the proposed North Walsham Wind Turbines at the Assessment Locations (i.e. nearest residential properties) would be lower than the ETSU-R-97 ‘daytime’ and ‘night-time’ period noise limits".

Low frequency noise has historically been of great concern to some people. The noise assessment addresses this issue:

It has been reported recently in the press that ‘low frequency noise’ or ‘infrasound’ can be produced by wind turbines. Based on the information available to Acoustic Associates (Peterborough) it would appear that early wind turbines may have suffered from this but current upwind models do not produce a significant amount of infrasound (see page 7, section 5.3.2).