“It’s a relief. You can’t imagine. Our joy is immense. Our suffering is finally recognized after so many years of legal proceedings.” Christel and Luc Fockaert are savoring what seemed impossible to them six years ago. This Belgian couple has just won an appeal against the operators of a wind farm installed on the heights of Fontrieu, in the Haut Languedoc regional park.
Wind turbines harmful to local residents
The noise and visual disturbances released constitute neighborhood disturbance and have an impact on health. This is what the judgment pronounced on July 8, 2021 by the Toulouse Court of Appeal says. The suffering denounced and the devaluation of the Fockaert house are recognized on appeal, which was not the case at first instance.
The wind turbines were installed on the heights of Fontrieu in 2008 on communal land. From the village, the equipment is invisible, but the noise is perceptible for the closest residents depending on the orientation of the prevailing wind (north-west) and the power of the wind turbines installed on rotating heads. The white lights, aggressive day and night following a technical malfunction, were replaced by red lighting in 2015. That is to say, seven years after they were put into operation.
“We spent hours trying to reach a technician. No one answered. We were left to our fate,” they explain. The nearest wind turbine is in fact 700 meters from their home.
In 2015, the plaintiffs decided to leave the farmhouse bought in 2004. The house had been renovated and partly transformed into a gîte. Living here had become unbearable. The first symptoms did not appear immediately “ specify Christel and Luc.
Headache, dizziness, fatigue, tinnitus, tachycardia
At first instance, the couple was dismissed by the court of Castres in early 2020. Christel and Luc claimed 350,000 euros in damages. The judges recognized noise pollution at the time, but not abnormally. The Toulouse Court of Appeal does not have the same reading of the expertises carried out: it recognizes the reality of a wind turbine syndrome, resulting in a deterioration of the state of health, defined moreover by the WHO as a state of physical, mental and social well-being.
Headaches, nausea, nosebleeds or even sleep disorders: the list of symptoms associated with wind turbines is long, according to residents. Wind turbine syndrome is a disease not recognized as such, but which impacts people living nearby. In France, the distance between homes and wind turbines is set at 500 meters.
Wind turbine syndrome affects more and more people living near wind turbines
The Haut Languedoc regional park is the most impacted park in Occitanie by these equipments. The authorization covers a maximum of 300 structures, 80% of the equipment has been installed. The prefects of Hérault and Tarn are committed to ensuring that the threshold is not exceeded, assures Emmanuel Forichon, representative in the Tarn of the collective All our Energies, opposed to the proliferation of the wind industry in rural areas.
“The public authorities must have a real awareness. They cannot always be in denial. Wind turbines are a source of noise and visual pollution.”
The operators of the wind farm will have to compensate local residents up to 110,000 euros (damages and reimbursement of costs). They had until October 8 to appeal. This is not the case, assure the complainants.
These wind turbines constitute a financial windfall for the communities: the six wind turbines of Fontrieu bring in 100,000 euros per year to the community of municipalities.