Nailsea and Tickenham

A public workshop was held on 12th February, capturing local people's views on whether the community could get more of its energy from renewable sources. Support was expressed for the possible development of wind turbines and solar farms within the area.

The views of workshop participants are summarised in a map and survey on the next few pages. Please add your thoughts and comments to the map and in the survey questions. 

This online consultation will be open until Monday 28th March. The comments made in the consultation will influence North Somerset Council's renewable energy policy development.

The comments made in the workshop were high level suggestions of what might be acceptable. The Council will carry out further work to ensure that what is suggested would be feasible / acceptable. This includes considering the impact on the landscape, noise impacts, disruption from construction traffic, and wildlife protection. 

There also will be further opportunities to comment on the Council's emerging planning policies when they are drafted.

You can find out more about different types of renewable energy and what they look like on our information page here.

Click the 'next' button to begin this survey, which will take around five minutes.

Workshop participants suggested the installation of two large wind turbines, up to 140 metres high. This would be in the location shown on this map (this will open in a new tab), on Tickenham Moor.

If found to be feasible, workshop participants supported the installation of up to two turbines of this scale in this approximate area. Each turbine would provide power for about 1600 homes per year, or 3,250 in total. Note for reference, the parishes of Nailsea and Tickenham contain 7,460 homes, therefore these turbines could supply 43% of the two parishes’ homes with renewable electricity. 

Check what the map looked like here - this will open in a new tab.

Check our guide to wind turbine size here - this will open in a new tab.

Workshop participants also showed support for the development of ground based solar panels, if feasible. They suggested up to 20 megawatts of panels could be installed, the equivalent of powering 5371 homes. Note for reference, the parishes of Nailsea and Tickenham contain 7,460 homes. This would covered approximately 90 acres, the equivalent of around 40 football pitches.

No specific location within the two parishes was discussed for these.

This is what ground based solar panels look like:

 Photo credit: Gabriel via Unsplash

Workshop participants also suggested solar photovoltaic (PV) panels could be installed on 40% of homes within Nailsea and Tickenham, if it were found to be feasible.

This would provide enough electricity to power 3206 homes. Note for reference, the parishes of Nailsea and Tickenham contain 7,460 homes. 

No specific location was identified for these.

This is what solar PV panels look like:

Photo credit: Vivint Solar via Unsplash

Under Nailsea are old mines which have water in them. This water can be used as a source of heating for buildings in the town, with the heat distributed via an underground district heating network.

The renewable energy (wind turbines, solar panels, solar farms, anaerobic digestor, mine water) suggested in the workshop would result in Nailsea and Tickenham generating approximately 72% of electricity used from renewable sources.

Further map comments

The map below gives you the opportunity to add any further comments about the wind turbines suggested in the workshop or anything or location specific thoughts.

You can click 'have your say' and drop a pin on the map to share your thoughts. Please note that when you click 'have your say' the map will open in a new tab for you to complete. Please keep in mind that all map comments are public, but anonymous, so none of your personal data is shared.

Complete the survey

After you have commented on the map, you can close the window and return to this page. Then click 'next' at the bottom of the page to complete the survey.

Thank you for completing this survey. 

You can find a more detailed summary what happened in the workshop here. This also includes information on participants' views on renewable heat and energy saving measures.

Please click the next button below to go submit your response. It's important that you do this to record your answers.

Commonplace will also ask a few questions on the next page, which help us understand who has responded to the consultation and therefore who the views represent. If any group in the community is under-represented, we can do further outreach to ensure they are heard. None of the information you provide is linked to your survey responses.