November 1, 2012
England

Campaigners’ delight at blast

Lancashire Evening Post | 1 November 2012 | www.lep.co.uk

Local campaigners have embraced comments by a government minister who said wind turbines should not be imposed on rural communities.

Simon Hulme, who is part of a group objecting to plans for a turbine in Chipping, said there had been a groundswell of support for energy minister John Hayes.

The minister spoke out on Tuesday, saying that the turbines had already been peppered across the country and enough was enough.

But within 24 hours he was slapped down by Liberal Democrat Energy Secretary Ed Davey who said the government policy on meeting its renewable energy targets had not changed.

Mr Hulme, who lives in Chipping, said: “Our planners and councillors will see that there has been a mass response to these comments and tremendous support for what he said.

“In particular people agree that these turbines should not be imposed on local communities.

“I hope it encourages our planners to protect us from these turbines, which will disfigure our environment for years to come.”

Nick Kenyon, managing director of Dewlay Cheesemakers in Garstang where a wind turbine was installed in 2010, said he also agreed with some of the points made by John Hayes.

He said: “We had a lot of opposition but since the turbine was built we’ve had more positive than negative comments.

“The difficulty with some applications is that the power is not used locally so the community sees no benefit from the turbines.

“In our case it probably helped secure the jobs of more than 70 people.”

Mr Kenyon said that the turbine also helped them reduce the company’s carbon footprint.

URL to article:  https://www.wind-watch.org/news/2012/11/01/campaigners-delight-at-blast/