September 21, 2011
England, Letters

Unwelcome neighbour

Camelford has a new neighbour staring down at it from Bodmin Moor. This neighbour is a wonderful thing that will help Cornwall disconnect itself from the grid and be a clean, green county that will be admired by the world. Well, that’s what Cornwall Council and the RSPB must think, because they have quietly allowed this thing to be built where most people would rather have looked at Roughtor, and where golden plovers, starlings and many other birds have until now flown unimpeded across the moor.

This thing is a wonderful, hightech, efficient turbine that will be very good at generating revenue for South West Water and kudos for Alec Robertson, leader of Cornwall Council, but will do very little for anyone else.

This turbine will also send a signal to Community Windpower Ltd, who wish to put up twenty 126-metre turbines at the same site, that neither Cornwall Council nor the RSPB will actually make any reasonable case to the Planning Inspectorate when the wind farm goes to appeal. In fact, the RSPB will probably stay away; although they are opposed to the wind farm they may not be at the appeal to argue against any new mitigation CWP puts forward, thereby handing the planning to them on a plate. As for Cornwall Council, the boys in expensive suits who actually run things want as many turbines as possible, so they will just loll about waiting for coffee time.

All this is going on even before we have the new planning rules from the Government, so expect to see not only lots of unaffordable houses built, but more wind turbines across the landscape. Alec Robertson is of course pouring money into jolly meetings with anyone who wants a free lunch and can stand around looking interested in his wonderful waterproof socket on the seabed off St Ives, which apparently has achieved a National Sustainability Award just for getting wet.

VERITY MCCOY Bodmin

URL to article: https://www.wind-watch.org/news/2011/09/21/unwelcome-neighbour/

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