Watchdog withdraws Fen wind farm ruling
An advertising watchdog which said a leaflet about a proposed wind farm was misleading and untruthful has withdrawn its ruling.
The Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) today confirmed it had withdrawn the ruling against campaign group Fenland Landscapes Against Turbines (FLAT).
A spokesman said: “We have since found out that the leaflet which was sent out was political material, which is beyond the remit of the ASA, so we have withdrawn our adjudication.”
Today FLAT chairman Lyndon Mason said: “Marshland Windfarm Ltd had no right to approach the ASA because the leaflet related to a local referendum which is exempt from the ASA code.
“We at FLAT can only assume that Marshland Windfarm Ltd – who brought the complaint and are responsible for the waste of tax payer’s money spent on the investigation – therefore deceived the ASA in the same way as they are trying to deceive the local community by providing half truths and concealing key information about this development.”
The ASA’s announcement is the latest twist in a long running row over plans to site turbines on farmland near Marshland.
A test mast put up to check wind speeds was felled by vandals last year and one member of the consortium of farmers behind the plan drowned himself as anger mounted at the proposals.
Last week, the authority said claims made by FLAT that homes would be worthless and people’s lives ruined if a windfarm were to be built in Marshland St James were misleading and breached the truthfulness clause of its code of conduct.
Marshland Wind Farm, which hopes to build 19 turbines on land near the village, complained to the Advertising Standards Authority. After the original ruling, it said the protestors’ campaign had now been discredited.
Last night a spokesman for the company, which is preparing a formal application to the government to build the wind farm, said: “The ASA’s decision to withdraw its adjudication does not change the fact it found the leaflet misleading and untruthful.”
Chris Bishop
16 September 2008
Tags: Wind power, Wind energy
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