We must fight to protect our countryside
In letter on the subject of wind turbines (Telegraph, August 8), Chris Broome criticises Angela Smith MP for what he describes as “a very uneven comparison” in her objection to the proposed wind farm at Sheephouse Heights.
Ironically, in his very next paragraph attempting to justify the development, he points out that “there are a lot of man made structures in the Peak District itself, including many attractive villages.”
He must feel, therefore, that equating a group of stone cottages and barns with a collection of giant concrete and steel structures over 300 feet high is a perfectly even comparison. Your readers will, no doubt, have their own views on the validity of this, but I can assure those who have never seen a large scale wind farm at close quarters that they have a massive visual impact.
The countryside behind the Costa de la Luz in Spain has been infested with these installations in recent years and the effect on a once idyllic rural scene is truly horrific.
I have said before that the only place for these huge industrial installations is already in industrialised areas and, unless and until such sites are identified (replacing the cooling towers at Tinsley?), it is the duty of us all, especially planners and politicians, to prevent wind farm developers from blighting our precious countryside.
In any event, it is almost certain that, in the next few years, wind technology research will produce much smaller and more efficient methods of harnessing the power, leaving future generations with a legacy of huge numbers of unwanted megaliths despoiling the environment.
Remember that the first computers were the size of an average classroom and the first mobile phones the size and weight of a house brick. It must surely be inevitable that wind technology will follow a similar course.
M Smith, Sheffield S10
28 August 2008
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Tags: Wind power, Wind energy
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