March 17, 2008
England
England
A consultation meeting planned for Marshland St James on Friday on the controversial wind farm development was cancelled amid fears for ‘public safety’.
The meeting, due to be held for around five hours in the Jubilee Hall, was called off just two hours before the start after an alleged attack on the home of a member of the Marshland Wind Farm Ltd consortium.
Ian Robinson, spokesman for the consortium, said they reported their concerns to police. He said rumours were circulating prior to the proposed consultation exhibition, which caused them concern for public order and the safety of staff manning it.
“We received phone calls from members of the land owners group expressing concern over safety because of rumours they had heard. There was some further evidence of threats to our safety which will be passed to police,” said Mr Robinson.
He added that work was now underway to organise a satisfactory way of completing the consultation work in the Marshland St James area.
However, Lyndon Mason, chairman of FLAT (Fenland Landscape Against Turbines) hit back claiming the real reason the meeting was cancelled was because the consortium was ‘running scared’ of the true depth of feeling against the wind farm.
He said despite the cancellation FLAT members had waited outside the Jubilee Hall and claimed around 200 people had turned up only to find the exhibition cancelled.
“I’m sure they would have faced a lot of verbal attacks – I would be stupid to say anything different – but certainly there would have been no physical abuse or threats,” said Mr Mason.
And he added: “If the consortium has got any hard evidence to back up what they are saying then they should go to the police and not the press.”
The exhibition is currently open to the public at R J Herbert’s factory in Marshland St James. Everyone is welcome to visit the display, which will be manned, but not by consortium staff.
FLAT is organising another public meeting for Tuesday (March 25) at 7pm at Marshland Jubilee Hall.
17 March 2008
URL to article: https://www.wind-watch.org/news/2008/03/17/safety-fears-at-turbine-talks/