An ill wind blows on Westminster
[01 May 2005]
Industrial scale 'wind farms' are not the answer to climate
change, so says the Ramblers' Association (RA), as it launches a
campaign to encourage voters to lobby their parliamentary
candidates on the pressing issue of renewable energy and the
protection of our finest landscapes.
The RA, the largest charity in the country working on behalf of
walkers, is calling on the next Parliament to shift financial
incentives away from large scale land based wind turbines to
smaller scale community based schemes that will meet local needs
while at the same time developing off-shore alternatives. The RA
is deeply concerned at the scale and extent of 'wind
farm' development in the countryside and is looking for radical
changes to the Renewables Obligation, currently being reviewed
by the Department of Trade and Industry. This provides the
financial support to industrial scale wind farm projects, most
now involving turbines over 100 metres in height, which threaten
the British countryside such as Whinash in Cumbria and the Isle
of Lewis in the Outer Hebrides.
Nick Barrett, Chief Executive of the RA said: "It is maddening
that the environment has become a forgotten issue in this
election. Politicians are burying their heads in the sand on an
issue that affects not only this generation but also future
generations. The climate change crisis will not be solved by
constructing massive 'wind farms' in the countryside. Wind
energy policy should be based on small-scale community based
turbines on land, with the massive, 100 metre plus turbines used
only in off-shore developments. Otherwise we will soon see an
industrialisation of our countryside on a scale never
experienced before. The desecration of our countryside by giant
turbines, inadvertently encouraged by excessive government
generosity, is potentially making a few landowners and
multinational energy companies very rich, but doing little to
address the real problem of climate change.”
He added: "We know that there is public support for community
based schemes, involving small clusters of turbines. These are
already economically viable but we want to see financial
incentives geared much more in the direction of small scale
development and away from the monster projects.”
In Scotland alone 60 wind farm planning applications have
already been approved. In addition 138 schemes are still being
processed by the planning system while a further 268 projects
are at the pre-application stage. The average number of turbines
in a development is 35, with some now proposed at 140 metres in
height. This is double the size of most of the wind turbines we
currently see in the landscape.