Western Morning News

'DON'T LET WIND TURBINES RUIN OUR LANDSCAPE'


09:00 - 19 February 2004
Shadow Energy Minister Theresa May says windfarms must not ruin the countryside. Andrea Kuhn reports

Shadow Energy Minister Theresa May yesterday said she wanted to stop the spread of onshore windfarms across areas of picturesque countryside and pledged to raise the matter in Westminster.

Speaking during a visit to Somerset, she praised the Western Morning News's wind turbine debate and said she did not want to see areas of the Westcountry being used as a "sacrifice to Government's policy".

The Tory MP was visiting the site of a planned windfarm at Cucklington, near Wincanton in Somerset, where villagers had staged a "friendly" demonstration.

They were protesting against an application for two turbines which will reach up to 100 metres to blade tip and will be just over 500 metres from some homes in the village.

Residents are angry their unspoilt view of the historic Blackmore Vale, which at present does not even contain a visible electricity pylon, will be overshadowed by the turbines.

Mrs May said it was crucial to look for alternative energy sources in order to protect the environment but added: "That does not mean you have to create another environmental sacrifice. Having been here and seen it for myself I can well understand how people feel. It is not the right place."

She added: "Not only does the Government appear not to have a strategy in terms of siting turbines but they don't appear to have a renewable energy strategy at all. They have got a target they want to meet but they think having a raft of windfarms is the way forward. And it means people are trying to put them in all sorts of sites which are just not suitable. We need a much more cohesive approach to the whole question."

Mrs May said the Government had not produced a proper "over-arching strategy" for addressing the difficult issues of climate change.

"We are doing a lot of work ourselves on what sources of renewable energy are available and we will be raising the question (in Parliament).

It's important to move forward on this issue but it's not right simply to do what the Government has done, which is to take one possible source of renewable energy and promote it, particularly when the impact can be seen on places such as this beautiful part of the countryside."

She praised the Western Morning News's "excellent" campaign which, in recent weeks, has highlighted the lack of strategy in Government policy and raised awareness at concerns of the effect turbines may have on the tourism industry if they are sited inappropriately and for the health of people living near them caused by low frequency noise.

"The Western Morning News has run many effective campaigns in the past and I hope this is going to be effective too," she added.

Yesterday the demonstrators clustered around Mrs May to explain their concerns at the turbines. They have formed the Save the Vale Action Group and even hired a London PR firm to fight their battle. A planning application will be considered by the District Council in March.

As one resident put it: "The Government has hired a PR company so why shouldn't we?" referring to Porter Novelli who, it was announced last week, has been employed to run an information campaign on renewable energy, including wind turbines.

Campbell Dunford, Chairman of the Save the Vale Group, said they would be lobbying for a moratorium on the development on all onshore windfarms until a proper strategy was worked out. "What the Government is doing with wind turbines is simply political tokenism. They have not grasped the nettle and they don't have a proper strategy at all."

Smallholder Sue Jordan said the campaign had galvanised the surrounding community which now has a meeting every Friday night to discuss a strategy. "I think this is a first for the village. But we feel we have to make a stand for all the villages around the country who are soon going to find themselves in a similar position."