February 25, 2012
U.K.

Countryfile’s Matt Baker hits out at wind farms

Philip Case, Saturday 25 February 2012, fwi.co.uk

Countryfile presenter Matt Baker has waded into the debate over wind farms by questioning their effectiveness.

The 2011 Farmers Weekly Awards host, 34, was asked to name the greatest threat to the countryside and he criticised the increasing number of wind turbines appearing across the UK.

Mr Baker, who grew up on a farm in Durham, told the Radio Times: “I think there’s an enormous number of wind turbines.”

He went on: “They are right next to the farm in Durham and they’re 90m high. I’m not sure how effective they are as they never seem to be actually working.”

Mr Baker is the latest high-profile person to speak out against wind turbines. Environmentalist David Bellamy has hit out at them, saying they are destroying our landscapes for profit.

Simon Jenkins, chairman of the National Trust, said previously that wind was the “least efficient” form of green power and wind turbines were a “public menace” that risked blighting the British landscape.

In November, Prince Philip dismissed wind farms as a “useless disgrace” and described people who backed them as believing in a “fairy tale”.

Mr Baker, the son of a Durham farmer, also said it was sad that many villages were now empty, with fewer people from the countryside still working there.

“Where I grew up, on a farm in Durham, you worked on the farm. I should have been a farmer like my father but that’s not what happens now,” he said.

“We all live in the countryside as a lifestyle choice, not because we work there.

“Villages are empty and I think that’s sad. But I do think there will be a resurgence in agriculture in this country, so that might change.”

URL to article:  https://www.wind-watch.org/news/2012/02/25/countryfiles-matt-baker-hits-out-at-wind-farms/