Once again, North Cornwall comes under attack from more wind turbine developers with plans for farms at Otterham, Titch Barrow, Davidstow, and close to the base of Roughtor, together with plans to increase by three times the height of the Delabole turbines.
Not only has the spin from the turbines become more dangerous but also the spin from the companies themselves.
The new generation of turbines has increased in size enormously to over 120 metres in height in order to overcome their inherent inefficiency, and with this increase in size come a guaranteed detrimental effect to all aspects of our lives.
The turbine developers will tell us that they have surveys that say there will be no effect on tourism, house prices, noise flicker, or damage to wildlife.
One does not have to be a mathematical genius, wildlife expert, engineer or scientist to see that this is just spin, There is no hidden secret or too clever science that the turbine people know about.
The simple truth is that if you place 120m-high structures with 70m rotating blades in an area that has vast flocks of winter birds then the birds will go somewhere else or get shredded. If the birds go somewhere else then so will some of our tourists.
If the developers are allowed to place these structures by the A39, as is the case, then the sun will be seen through them for most of the day, therefore the flicker will be dangerous to drivers.
Similarly, 70m-high rotating blades cannot be silent; their noise will be difficult to measure but their annoyance factor will not be when the tourist numbers reduce.
These windfarms will be seen from all over North Cornwall; many people will have to go indoors to get away from them. Tourists will not like looking from their coastal lodgings towards the moors through giant fans and looking from the tors to the coast will be even more difficult.
If tourist numbers reduce then the earnings of people in the business will go down, and this will then affect their and your property values. Tourism is the major earner in the South West and when this declines people in the service industries will also leave.
No rocket science is needed to see the folly of allowing these structures to be built – you just need to see what they want to put up, and where, and use common sense.
We must remember that once these are built we will have the spin affecting us long after the developers and their investors have left with their pockets full of money.
R L English
Camelford
28 August 2007
URL to article: https://www.wind-watch.org/news/2007/08/29/masters-of-spin-renew-their-attack/