August 31, 2012
England

Fears over number of plans for wind turbines on Mendip Hills

Wells Journal | www.thisissomerset.co.uk 30 August 2012

The Mendip Society says it is extremely concerned about the number of planning applications and enquires being made for the construction of wind turbines on the Mendip Hills.

And the society has joined climate change sceptics, saying it is a “fallacy”.

The society is opposed to wind turbines on the Mendips due to their impact on the landscape and the living, working, historic and recreational environment.

Chairman of the society Graham Price said: “They are severely damaging to the visual amenity of the countryside which is a designated National Character Area.”

The National Character Area (NCA) extends from the edge of Weston-super-Mare in the west, to the edge of Frome in the east.

The total area of the NCA is 30,300 hectares of which more than half the AONB comprises 53 per cent.

Also within the NCA are five registered parks and gardens, 238 scheduled monuments and 1,204 listed buildings.

Mr Price said: “What then is the worth of all this if we are now to blight the landscape with wind turbines?

“Wind turbines impact on the value of properties and their desirability to prospective purchasers. They affect the health and well-being of people, creating physical and mental health issues resulting from invasive noise, shadow flicker and the recently identified ‘wind turbine syndrome’.

“They are also known to affect TV reception. They impact on wildlife, its habitat and ecology, and create a real major danger for birds and bats which are a nationally endangered and protected species. If the impacts on people and the environment are not enough, it has to be considered that wind turbines are neither viable or economic. There is considerable evidence showing they are inefficient and do not work.

“Currently, for onshore turbines alone, £400 million per year is given to companies to subsidise manufacturing and to landowners in rent for having them on their land. Without these huge subsidies it is questionable if we would see another turbine.

“Also climate change, one of the major justifications for using wind energy, has recently been shown to be a fallacy. It simply is not happening. Recently the Government has agreed to a 10 per cent reduction in subsidies, much less than the 25 per cent wanted by the Treasury and a group of over 100 Conservative MPs.

“The subsidy needs to be removed altogether and the true economics exposed. The society supports the recently formed group AATOM (Action Against Turbines on Mendip) and calls upon everyone to support the efforts to protect our unique Mendip landscape.”

URL to article:  https://www.wind-watch.org/news/2012/08/31/fears-over-number-of-plans-for-wind-turbines-on-mendip-hills/