July 6, 2012
England

Suffolk: MP gains Government backing for wind turbine fight

By Elliot Furniss | East Anglian Daily Times | www.eadt.co.uk 6 July 2012

A Suffolk MP says he is pleased to have gained Government support in his fight against onshore wind turbines.

Dr Daniel Poulter, representative for Central Suffolk and North Ipswich, met minister of state for energ, Charles Hendry to discuss the issue this week.

Dr Poulter said he gained reassurances from the minister that onshore wind turbines would play “only a small role” as part of the Coalition Government’s wider efforts to reduce carbon emissions. Onshore wind turbines have proved divisive in Suffolk, with many communities objecting to the erection of wind turbines against their wishes.

Speaking after the meeting, Dr Poulter said: “I was very pleased to hear from the minister directly that the Government is putting support into alternative sources of renewable energy such as biomass energy.

“This will allow local communities and farmers in Suffolk to do their bit to support renewable energy without promoting exclusively wind turbines, which we know can be very unpopular at a local level.”

He said it was right for the Government to prioritise green energy and tackling household energy bills, but it should not “ride roughshod” over rural communities in the process.

Dr John Constable, director of the Renewable Energy Foundation, a UK charity publishing data on the renewable energy sector, said Mr Hendry’s remarks to Dr Poulter were a “very encouraging sign of change.”

“(The) Government needs to recognise that current policies make renewables unpopular by creating a few rich and happy winners and a large number of very angry losers, “ said Dr Constable.

“That is neither just nor fair, and has to stop. Renewable energy in the countryside has got to work for everybody, or it won’t work at all.”

URL to article:  https://www.wind-watch.org/news/2012/07/06/suffolk-mp-gains-government-backing-for-wind-turbine-fight/