With the publication of the Friends of the Earth document Wind Power 20 Myths Blown Away fully endorsed by Assembly Minister Jane Davidson, I was highly amused at the clever way it has been worded and the way it is has neatly avoided giving a full and balanced picture.
If we take just one of the 20: No 17: Wind farms harm property prices. The FoE document quotes two reports saying they don’t. Well, the planning inspector who turned down the appeal by Renewable Energy Systems against the council refusal for 10 wind turbines at Rhos Garn, Llandysul, thought differently. He referred to a property owner near the site and said: “I can well imagine that if this proposal was allowed, he may well have difficulty selling his property.”
One of the two reports quoted by the FoE was commissioned by NWP, National Wind Power, one of the UK’s largest wind power station developers, which has been criticised for its environmental statement for the Romney Marsh 27-turbine application.
Also, across the Tan8 areas involving Forestry Commission land, we have been given the names of some of the developers being given the right to make applications, with more expected soon.
So a flood of applications might well be hitting the desks of council planning departments, or a desk in Westminster for the bigger ones – so this report might be designed to do the “greenwash” bit.
Caroline Evans
Gwernogle
Carmarthen
15 May 2008
URL to article: https://www.wind-watch.org/news/2008/05/15/yet-more-hot-air-on-wind/