Winds of change at Glyndebourne


Rows at Glyndebourne are usually confined to polite disagreements over a picnic spot or the staging of The Magic Flute. But the organisers of the quintessential summer opera festival now find themselves at the centre of a planning dispute over a proposed wind turbine that would be higher than the face of Big Ben.

Lewes District Council will determine the fate of a scheme that has divided opinion in East Sussex. Glyndebourne Opera House wants to build a 70m (230ft) turbine in its grounds in the South Downs, an Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty and National Park designate. It claims that, by using the 850kw turbine to generate electricity, the opera house will cut its carbon emissions by 71 per cent.

However a coalition of four environmental groups – the South Downs Society, the Council for National Parks, the Campaign to Protect Rural England (CPRE) and the Ramblers’ Association – is determined to block the application, to Lewes District Council, which is expected to be heard on June 20.

They say that the turbine will ruin the surrounding countryside, destroying views over “hundreds of square kilometres”. While the organisations are in favour of renewable energy, they say they do not want a turbine on land due to become a National Park.

From today's Times. But there's better news on Glyndebourne in Britten's women.
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